E. Shirmohammadi; H.A. Alikhani; Ahmad Ali Pourbabaee; H. Etesami
Abstract
Introduction: Stresses of drought, salinity and deficiency of nutrients especially phosphorus (P) are the most important challenges for wheat production in Iran. One of the ways to achieve more wheat yield production is increasing of this plants tolerance to stresses of water-deficit, salinity and deficiency ...
Read More
Introduction: Stresses of drought, salinity and deficiency of nutrients especially phosphorus (P) are the most important challenges for wheat production in Iran. One of the ways to achieve more wheat yield production is increasing of this plants tolerance to stresses of water-deficit, salinity and deficiency of essential elements such as P; and/or alleviate destructive effects of these stresses. In this respect, use of PGPR can be useful. Research has shown that PGPR with multiple mechanisms reduces the negative effects of water-deficit and salinity stresses, and also increases the resistance of plants to these stresses, which ultimately leads to increase of plants growth. This study was designed and carried out to investigate the effect of three superior PGPR on qualitative and quantitative indices of wheat under water-deficit stress in saline soil. Materials and Methods: The soil used in this experiment was collected from longitude of 49° 26' 25'' E, latitude of 35° 52' 26'' N and elevation of 1534 m (located in the Qazvin province of Iran) from depth of 0-30 cm of soil. According to the experimental design, 3.5 kg of soil with applying P-fertilizers treatments was filled to the pots. The factorial arrangement based on completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this study. The treatments were replicated three times. The first factor: soil water content at two levels including 80% and 55% FC (W80 and W55); the second factor: Bacterial inoculants at four levels including control or non-inoculated seeds with bacterium (B0), inoculated seeds with Bacillus pumilus strain W72 (B1), inoculated seeds with B. safensis strain W73 (B2), inoculated seeds with Staphylococcus succinus strain R12N2 (B3); and the third factor: P-fertilizers at six levels including control or non-treated plants with P-fertilizers (F0), and plants treated with (rock phosphate) RP - (F1), RP + 19 mg triple superphosphate (TSP) / kg of soil (F2), RP + 38 mg TSP / kg of soil (F3), RP + 57 mg TSP / kg of soil (F4), with 57 mg TSP / kg of soil (F5), generally there were 144 experimental units (pots). Also, 192 mg RP (containing 13.8% P2O5 or 6.13% P) was mixed per kg of soil in each of RP treatments. Statistical analysis of data was performed using SAS software and comparison of means was evaluated by using the Tukey's test (HSD) at p < 0.05 level. There were 5 plants in each pot and irrigated up to 80% FC with distilled water. With the beginning of stem elongation stage, water-deficit stress was applied and continued until the harvest. During the experiment, pots were kept in greenhouse at 25/20±2°C day/night temperatures and 16 h photoperiod with 23,000 lux light intensity. At the end of the experiment, plants height, fertile clusters, root dry weight /shoot dry weight ratio, total dry weight of plant, grain number, thousand grain weight, also, root, shoot and grain P-concentration were measured. Results and Discussion: Generally, it can be said that the moisture level of W80 compared to W55 increased all of measured traits in wheat plant. Due to the unique properties of water and its role in biological and non-biological reactions, by reducing soil water content to near of the permanent wilting point (W55), water absorption by the plant hardly occurs. Therefore, the plant needs to consume more energy for water absorption or grow with less water than normal status, which these factors disturb the metabolism of cells and eventually decreases natural activity and growth of plant. Also, it seems that under water stress condition, wheat plant by formation of “Rhizosheaths” around of their own roots, enters to the defensive phase and by this strategy prevents expansion of their own rhizosphere. With attention to the special importance of the rhizosphere in the supply of water, nutrients and activity of microorganisms, as well as the effect of microorganisms secretion and root exudates on the solubility and availability of nutrients. Thus, it is reasonable that qualitative and quantitative traits of plants decrease by reduction of the rhizosphere diameter due to the water-deficit stress. There was no significant difference between application of rock phosphate and control (F0) for most of measured traits of soil and plant; but, application of RP with bacterial treatments (B1 and B2 at W80 and B3 at both level of W55 and W80) compared to the control, often increased measured traits. Also, each level of TSP compared to the control, often increased this trait. Research indicates that RP can be used as a P-fertilizer, but its efficiency depends on its reactivity in the soil. There is ample evidence that RP has not enough efficiency in neutral and alkaline soils; but, it can be used as the P-fertilizer with proper efficiency in acidic soils or alkaline soil with application of PGPR. Often, all of three bacterial treatments (B1, B2 and B3) at level of W80 and B3 treatment at level of W55, compared to control (without bacterial inoculation) improved qualitative and quantitative traits of plant. Research also shows that under stressful and non-stressful conditions, PGPR can improve plant growth by different strategies. However, this microorganism does not always improve plant growth under all conditions. It seems to be due to differences in genetic and function of bacteria and with conditions change, each bacterium may behave differently. Conclusions In general, for wheat cultivation that may get exposed to moisture stress at one or more stages of its growth (such as dry-farming of wheat), the use of B3 bacterial inoculant (Staphylococcus succinus strain R12N2) seems appropriate for crop management. Because in this study at both W80 (non-water-deficit stress) and W55 (severe water-deficit stress) levels of soil water content, B3 treatment increased qualitative and quantitative of wheat traits. In other words, because of the natural conditions of the dryland farming, the probability of precipitation is different; it seems that B3 treatment can increase wheat production under these conditions. However, the use of this bacterium as a biofertilizer for dryland wheat farming in Iran or other place of the world requires further testing and evaluation in dryland farms of that countries.
J. Kakeh; manoochehr gorji; A. A. Pourbabaei; A. Tavili; M. Sohrabi
Abstract
Introduction: Physical and biological soil crusts are the principal types of soil crusts. Physical and biological soil crusts are distributed in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid regions which constitute over 40% of the earth terrestrial surface. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) result from an intimate association ...
Read More
Introduction: Physical and biological soil crusts are the principal types of soil crusts. Physical and biological soil crusts are distributed in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid regions which constitute over 40% of the earth terrestrial surface. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) result from an intimate association between soil particles and cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, lichens and mosses in different proportions which live on the surface, or in the immediately uppermost millimeters of soil. Some of the functions that BSCs influences include: water absorption and retention, nutrient retention, Carbon and nitrogen fixation, biological activate and hydrologic Status. BSCs are important from the ecological view point and their effects on the environment, especially in rangeland, and desert ecosystems and this caused which researchers have a special attention to this component of the ecosystems more than before.
Materials and Methods: This study carried out in the Qara Qir rangelands of Golestan province, northeast of Iran (37º15′ - 37º23′ N &54º33′ -54º39′ E), to investigate the effects of BSCs on some of soil biological properties. Four sites including with and without BSCs cover were selected. Soil biological properties such as microbial populations, soil respiration, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, as well as, other effective properties such asorganic carbon percent, total nitrogen, electrical conductivity, and available water content were measured in depths of 0-5 and 5-15 cm of soil with four replications. The gathered data were analyzed by nested plot, and the mean values were compared by Duncan test.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that organic carbon and water content were higher at the surface under BSCs, followed by 5-15 cm soils under BSCs. Both soil depths of uncrusted soils showed substantially lower organic carbon and water content than the BSC-covered soils. Total nitrogen was far higher in BSC-encrusted surface soils than uncrusted surface soils or BSC sub-surface soils. All Electrical conductivities were lower in surface soils covered with BSCs than sub-surface soils. The values for non-BSC covered soils were far higher than values for soils covered with BSCs. The values of soil biological properties such as microbial populations, soil respiration, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen were higher at the surface under BSCs, followed by 5-15 cm soils under BSCs. The values for non-BSC covered soils were far lower than values for soils covered with BSCs at 0-5 cm depth but these properties in the uncrusted soils did not differ with BSCs covered surface at 5-15 cm depth. The amount of organic carbon was higher in BSC-covered surface soils at both measured depths, likely due to the ability of BSCs to fix atmospheric carbon. This leads to enhanced BSCs biomass and thus organic carbon especially in the soil surface layer (0-5 cm). An extensive cover of even a thin layer of photosynthetically active organisms can be an important basis for carbon input into the soil. BSCs also produce and secrete extracellular polysaccharides into surrounding soils, increasing the soil carbon and nitrogen pool. In general, there is a positive correlation between C and N fixation by BSCs. Also distribution of soil microbial population is positively correlated with the distribution of organic carbon and nitrogen. Microbial population is reduced following increase at depth, which is proportional to reduce of the concentration of nutrient and suitable conditions such as water content for growing them. Therefore proportionate to Microbial population, the properties such as soil respiration and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen were reduced following increase at depth, because it did not provide the conditions for living organisms. These conditions were more inappropriate for non-BSC covered soils due to lower water content, organic carbon, total nitrogen and much higher electrical conductivity at both depths especially at 5-15 cm depth.
Conclusion: Biological soil crusts can play a key role in the biological properties of soil. Our data showed that organic carbon percent, total nitrogen, and available water content and biological properties such as microbial populations, soil respiration and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen were increased significantly in two mentioned depths especially in 0-5 cm depth on sites covered with BSCs, relative to without BSCs. Electrical Conductivity had a reverse trend. In general, it can be concluded that BSCs improve soil conditions and provide suitable habitats for heterotrophic microorganisms and increase soil microbial activity. As the presence of BSCs generally increased the positive qualities of the soil, it is suggested that they can be used as a qualitative indicator of soil quality in rangelands.
M. Ghobadi Nia; H. Rahimi; E. Flavia; T. Sohrabi; A.A. Pourbabaee; U. Vasconcelos
Abstract
Abstract
A previous study on agricultural drains in Khuzestan province of Iran has indicated that carbonate calcium is the main component of the deposited salts in drainage envelops. To investigate the process of precipitation of carbonate calcium under different conditions including chemical, bio-chemical, ...
Read More
Abstract
A previous study on agricultural drains in Khuzestan province of Iran has indicated that carbonate calcium is the main component of the deposited salts in drainage envelops. To investigate the process of precipitation of carbonate calcium under different conditions including chemical, bio-chemical, aerobic and an-aerobic, a through laboratory investigation on geotextile drain envelop was conducted. The results of the studies showed that activity of the micro-organisms in aerobic conditions causes an increase in the bicarbonate content and consequently, increase in the pH of the medium. Any increase in pH would intensify the precipitation of carbonate calcium. The results also indicated that due to the activity of micro-organisms, more than 90% of existing calcium would be precipitated. While in a chemical environment, only 30% of existing calcium would precipitate. Thus, in a biochemical environment, micro-organisms would cause more calcium to be deposited. The results also indicated that the activity of the bacteria would cause formation of bio-films which in turn would provide a more suitable environment for precipitation of salts. By intensifying deposition of salts, there is higher potential for clogging of the drainage envelops including geotextile filters.
Keywords: Agricultural Drain, Calcium Carbonate, Drainage Envelope, Geotextile, Aerobic and An-aerobic, biofilm