Agriculture

Kashan playa, Located in the west of Central Desert of Iran, has been subjected to severe desertification problems. Most of these problems are due to human activities, overgrazing, sand dune mobility, soil salinity and ground water depletion. Monitoring desertification, land degradation and land cover requires rapid and accurate procedures. Remotely sensed satellite technology allows land degradation processes to be monitored over time. Two Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite images for 12 years period (1990-2002) with field observations were provided basic information for mapping of the extend and monitoring of the Kashan playa in central desert of Iran. Several change detection techniques such as image differencing, vegetation change analysis, principal component analysis and classification comparison have been applied to the data. Maximum Likelihood classification analysis showed a kappa coefficient accuracy of 86% and 82% for the TM and ETM+ images. Results revealed that about 35 % of the study area mostly salty lands and fixed sand dune has been rapidly changed. The overall rate changes of the desert lands and vegetation are about 7275 and 62 ha year^-1 respectively.

The effects of dewaxing on the physico-chemical properties of some brands of vegetable oil have been investigated. Five (5) brands of crude vegetable oil including soybean oil (SO), beniseed oil (BO),cottonseed oil (CSO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) were used for these investigations. The physico-chemical properties and the wax contents were determined before and after the dewaxing operation. The wax contents (ppm), saponification numbers, % free fatty acid contents, slip melting points (0C) of the oil samples were reduced while the iodine values of the oil samples increased after the dewaxing operation. The dewaxed oil samples showed good abilities to withstand refrigerator temperature.

The University of message and specific objectives of teaching, scientific research and community service, they play an important and significant role in the practice of scientific research. The scientific research of the most important pillars of universities, a standard measure of scientific and academic level. The first universities and the natural place to conduct research because of the large number of specialists from faculty members as well as provide search requirements of laboratories and equipment, and the necessary resources for scientific research data collection. The research aims to shed light on the reality of experiments fields in the College of Agriculture and the statement of efficiency usability fields experiments in scientific research and to highlight the shortcomings and weaknesses and their impact on the conduct of the research process of The perspective of professors of the Faculty of Agriculture the aim of identifying determine inhibiting factors and the factors that help in the development of efficient use of the fields and converted of research fields to the research and production for the purposes of development.

The effect of dried grain final moisture content on breaking force and milling properties of paddy and brown rice were studied. Results revealed that the breaking force decreased significantly (P<0.01) from 146.66 to 113.51 N, 150.49 to 101.93 N and 150.31 to 113.86 N for Hashemi, Kadous and Khazar, respectively, as the moisture content increased from 6 to 12 %(w.b.). In case of brown rice, the similar trend were observed such that at the same moisture range, the breaking force decreased from 93.18 to 79.32 N, 93.4 to 82.06 N and 104.4 to 83.64 N for Hashemi, Kadous and Khazar, respectively. The maximum and minimum head rice yield (HRY) of 80.13 and 73.76 % were obtained at moisture content of 6 and 12 % respectively. There was an incremental trend in the values of head brown rice yield (HBRY) and milling recovery with decreasing dried final moisture content.

To assess the impact of textile and dye industrial effluent on soil and crops, the pot culture experiment carried out with maize crop to determine the effect of dye and textile factory effluent in combination with amendments (poultry manure, green leaf manure, biocompost, vermicompost). This study revealed that application of CETP sludge @ 5 t ha-1 + poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK increased the soil organic carbon, available N, P, K, Ca, Mg and micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn) in soil under treated effluent irrigation compared to river water irrigation. The sodium content and ESP of soil increased under effluent irrigation. However, it did not produce any toxic effects to the crops. This showed that the treated effluent could be safely used for irrigation along with poultry manure @ 5 t ha-1 and NPK.

The effluent and sludge generated from various industries are being dumped into the environment, causing various hazards on a long run. At the same time, these wastes contain essential nutrients. So utilization of such wastes for crop production can enhance the availability of nutrients and enrich soil organic matters that ultimately increase the growth of crops. Gypsum, pressmud, Farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Addition of amendments had a strong influence in enhancing the soil quality parameters like exchangeable calcium. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

Gypsum, pressmud, farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Higher microbial population was also observed under effluent irrigation than well water. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

Vermicomposting of textile and dye sludge is an economically viable and environmentally safer method of final disposal. Use of earthworms in the industrial sludge management has been termed as vermistabilization (Neuhauser et al.,1988). The worms and microorganisms enhance the biodegradation of organic matter. During this process, important plant nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium etc. present in the waste are converted through microbial action into forms that are much more soluble and available to plants than those in the parent substrate (Ndegwa and Thompson, 2001).. In this study, textile and dye sludge had only four per cent organic carbon content. The C: N ratio is one among the important factors that affects manure quality. To adjust the C: N ratio of the initial materials, the carbonaceous material like sawdust and crop waste were added at different proportions. At maturity phase, the highest P content was observed in the treatment that received sludge, poultry waste and saw dust (T7, T8). Kaushik and Garg (2003) reported that textile mill sludge could be potentially useful as raw substrate in vermicomposting if mixed up to 30 per cent with cow dung. E. foetida is an epigeic earthworm species which lives in organic wastes and requires high moisture content, adequate amounts of suitable organic material and dark conditions for proper growth and development (Gunadi et al., 2002). The enhancement of P in vermicompost was due to mineralization of the organic matter accompanied by a reduction in the total volume of the waste under ideal conditions. The finished vermicompost obtained by mixing 30 per cent sludge with 20 per cent poultry waste and 50 per cent crop waste contains higher nutrient status (NPK) with narrow C: N ratio (15.5).

Gypsum, pressmud, farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Higher microbial population was also observed under effluent irrigation than well water. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

Vermicomposting of textile and dye sludge is an economically viable and environmentally safer method of final disposal. The low level of carbon content is considered as a limiting factor for the decomposition of textile and dye sludge, but it contains higher amount of calcium and micronutrients. So, it could potentially be used as an alternate substrate for vermicomposting, if it is mixed with carbonaceous materials and animal wastes. In this study, textile and dye sludge had only four per cent organic carbon content. The C: N ratio is one among the important factors that affects manure quality. To adjust the C: N ratio of the initial materials, the carbonaceous material like sawdust and crop waste were added at different proportions. The saw dust appeared to be an ideal bulking agent for composting because of its ability to absorb moisture, and its structure that provides adequate porosity in the compost heap (Mahimairaja, 1996). The C: N ratio of compost in the present investigation ranged between 15.50: 1 and 20.1:1, which could be readily utilized for crop production as suggested by Gaur (1982). The finished vermicompost obtained by mixing 30 per cent sludge with 20 per cent poultry waste and 50 per cent crop waste contains higher nutrient status (NPK) with narrow C: N ratio (15.5).