Plant Nutrition, Soil Fertility and Fertilizers
Faranak Ghasemi; ُSaeid Hojati; Ahmad Landi; Roya Zalaghi
Abstract
Introduction Clay minerals are considered as the main source of ion exchange and storage of nutrients in the soil. Knowledge of change and transformation of minerals, in relation to plant nutrition, fixation and release of elements is important. Sepiolite and palygorskite are fibrous clay minerals widely ...
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Introduction Clay minerals are considered as the main source of ion exchange and storage of nutrients in the soil. Knowledge of change and transformation of minerals, in relation to plant nutrition, fixation and release of elements is important. Sepiolite and palygorskite are fibrous clay minerals widely distributed in arid and semi-arid soils. Both minerals are rich in Mg and therefore, their weathering can significantly affect the chemistry of Mg in soil. Biological weathering which is carried out by living organisms (i.e. plant roots, soil fungi and bacteria) plays an important role in providing nutrients to plants. Hence, the use of microorganisms such as mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere of agricultural crops has become more widespread. In recent years several studies have been conducted in relation to the weathering of minerals in the rhizosphere soil. However, few studies in terms of mycorhizal symbiosis with plant roots were carried out on release of Mg from sepiolite and palygorskite. Therefore, a pot experiment with a factorial arrangement through a completely randomized design was conducted to identify how symbiosis of sorghum roots with Glomus mosae mycorhizae affects release of Mg from sepiolite and palygorskite. Materials and Methods Pots containing sterile quartz sand and sepiolite or palygorskite (25-53 µm) were prepared and fungal treatments including presence or absence of fungus Glomus mosae were applied to the pots and then sorghum seeds were sown. Johnson nutrient solutions containing magnesium and without magnesium were used to feed plants during 70 days of experiment. After harvesting, the chlorophyll content, plants height and stem diameter were measured by SPAD, tape measure and caliper, respectively. Afterwards, the roots and shoots were separated and plants biomass and the percentage of roots colonization determined. Then, plants were oven-dried, ground, and the magnesium contents of them after extraction with 1M hydrochloric acid were determined using Agilent 7000 ICP analyzer. The chemical composition of palygorskite, sepiolite, and quartz sand was determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and their mineralogical composition was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) approach. Results and Discussion Analysis of variance for the main effect of treatments on plant height, stem diameter, shoot dry weight and root dry weight showed that the effect of different sources of magnesium on plant height, stem diameter and shoot dry weight was significant (P < 0.01). The highest and lowest height, stem diameter, root and shoot dry matter were found in treatments fed with complete Johnson solutions and the palygorskite, respectively. The results also illustrated that application of Glomus mosae symbiotic mycorhizae significantly increased plant height, stem diameter, and root and shoot dry matter compared with non-mycorhizal treatments. This could be attributed to the fact that Mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mosae) absorb more water and nutrients through increased photosynthesis and plant growth, consequently leading to improved plant characteristics when compared with non-mycorhizal crops. The results also showed the highest percentage of root colonization in palygorskite treatments and the lowest one in control. In general, a symbiotic relationship is created to improve low nutrition of elements that the amount of them in the soilwith a little mobility. Therefore, anything that exacerbates this deficiency, leads to an increase in symbiosis between plants and fungi. On the other hand, When plant is faced with more nutrient deficiencies, the demand for a symbiothic fungusGlomus mosae increases. Besides, the greatest magnesium concentration and chlorophyll contents were found in control, sepiolite and palygorskite treatments, respectively. In all treatments, magnesium intake was sufficient to grow sorghum, but as the results show, the amount of magnesium in the control and that of sepiolite was much more than palygorskite. These results clearly show that sepiolite mineral is able to release more Mg than palygorskite. The results also showed that the presence of the fungus Glomus mosae has significantly affected the release of Mg from both minerals. Conclusion In both sepiolite and palygorskite treatments, magnesium and chlorophyll content increased in symbiosis with fungi. This shows the positive effect of Glomus mosae fungus on release of Mg from these two minerals, especially sepiolite. Although, both sepiolite and palygorskite were able to provide enough amounts of Mg for sorghum plants, however, it seems that in long-term Mg released from sepiolite can more easily meet the need of plants when compared with palygorskite.
Negin Hassanvandi; Ahmad Landi; Hamid Reza Matinfar; Mohammad Hassan Taherzadeh
Volume 37, Issue 1 , September 2014, , Pages 23-34
Abstract
Soil salinity and salinization are destructive phenomena and limiting factors for agricultural development. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor and mange salinity. Identification of saline soils and production of saline soils maps are the first steps for their management. The objective of this study ...
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Soil salinity and salinization are destructive phenomena and limiting factors for agricultural development. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor and mange salinity. Identification of saline soils and production of saline soils maps are the first steps for their management. The objective of this study was to achieve a map of saline soils of the south of Ahvaz using ETM+ images. Soil sampling from 0-15 cm was accomplished using visual interpretations and differences in spectral reflection of various phenomena. Electrical conductivity (EC) was measured in soil paste. Spectral values of each sample were obtained in different bands and the relationship between spectral values and samples electrical conductivity was analyzed by determining correlated bands and selecting desirable bands for contributing to the model. The results showed that the correlation between electrical conductivity values with B4, B2 bands, brightness and SAVI was significant at 1% level. Using the correlation between satellite data (Landsat ETM+ 2010) and numerical value of soil salinity, salinity maps were produced in GIS. Finally, a salinity map was prepared using a multiple variable regression model. The accuracy of the produced map by electrical conductivity values showed that the correlation method in mapping soil salinity can be recommended.
