Land leveling and changes in soil properties in paddy fields of Guilan province,Iran

Paddy and Water Environment - The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of land leveling on some of soil properties. Land leveling as an effective strategy for paddy land management is one...     

Evolution of moisture management behavior of high-wicking 3D warp knitted spacer fabrics

Moisture management behavior is a vital factor in evaluating thermal and physiological comfort of functional textiles. This research work studies functional 3 dimensional (3D) warp knitted spacer fabrics containing high-wicking materials characterized by their profiled cross section. These spacer fabrics can be used for protective vest to absorb a user’s sweat, to reduce the humidity and improve user’s thermal comfort. For this reason, different 3D warp knitted spacer fabrics were produced with functional fiber yarns in the back layer of the fabric (close to the body) and polyester in the front and middle layers (outer surface). Comfort properties such as air and water vapor permeability and wicking and other moisture management properties (MMP) of different fabric samples were measured. It is demonstrated that by using profiled fibers such as Coolmax fiber, moisture management properties of spacer fabrics can be improved, enabling them to be use as a snug-fitting shirt worn under protective vests with improved comfort.     

Using 137Cs and 210Pbex measurements to explore the effectiveness of soil conservation measures in semi-arid lands: a case study in the Kouhin region of Iran

Journal of Soils and Sediments - One of the most fragile agro-ecosystems in Iran is represented by dry farming lands on steep hillslopes that occupy ca. 54% of the national agricultural lands....     

Assessing the Function of Biological Soil Crusts on Soil Fertility (Case Study: Kiamaky Wildlife Refuge,East Azerbaijan,Iran)

Eurasian Soil Science - Biological soil crusts (BSCs), are common on soil surface in arid and semiarid regions. They consist of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, lichens and bryophytes associated with...     

Development of Molecular Tools for Distinguishing Between the Highly Similar Rx1 and Rx2 PVX Extreme Resistance Genes in Tetraploid Potato

The Rx1 and Rx2 are extreme resistance genes, which have been introgressed from different species into potato cultivars and breeding lines. These two genes have a 98% and 96% sequence similarity at the nucleotide as well as at the amino acid level, respectively. Except one extra amino acid in the Rx2 gene, the high variations of the amino acid chain are due to single and double nucleotide variations, which are scattered throughout the coding regions. The high level of sequence similarity makes it complicated to identify these genes and to distinguish them from other highly similar genes, like the Gpa2 or from paralogous sequences by a single polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Here, we report the development of markers for the simple and rapid identification of the Rx1 as well as the Rx2 gene. Further, a multiplex PCR reaction is recommended for the simultaneous detection of both genes in a single reaction. Since these genes reside on different chromosomes, following their inheritance by the multiplex PCR method could help the easy incorporation of both genes into breeding lines. The detection method shown here could be routinely used in marker-assisted selection for Potato virus X extreme resistance and could enhance the effectiveness of potato breeding programs. Besides potato breeding, this method could also be effectively applied to mapping experiments as well as in research studies of resistance.     

Evaluation of scanner capability for measuring the color of fabrics with different textures in different setups

The influence of surface texture on the perceived color by a flatbed scanner is investigated. Knitted fabrics with 8 different textures in variety of colors are prepared and used in scanning trial along with standard chart, i.e. IT8.7/2 from Kodak. According to the results, the scanner detects different RGB values for different textures which are weaved from same colored yarns. The means of R, G and B values are considered as a feature vector which shows the dominant color of each sample. Samples are scanned with different resolutions and it is found that scanning resolution does not change the extracted color feature vector. The IT8.7/2 standard target which benefits from non textural solid surface and fabrics with specific surface texture are used for colorimetric characterization of scanner and the capability of scanner for estimation of color coordinates of samples with different textures is examined. It is found that the characterization of scanner with textured target improves the scanner accuracy for the color of textured materials. It is shown that the texture of media has a great effect on the characterization results and there is relatively good correlation between the structural differences of textures of fabrics used in training and testing steps with the mean of testing color difference values. To achieve a better color reproduction results for fabrics, scanner characterization should be performed for each set of fabrics with specific texture. In this case, increasing the bit depth of captured image in the scanning process leads to decrease of the mean of color difference value for training and testing packages.     

Least limiting water range for different soil management practices in dryland farming in Iran

Integrated evaluation of soil physical properties using the least limiting water range (LLWR) approach may allow a better knowledge of soil water availability. We determined the LLWR for four tillage practices consisted of conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), no-tillage (NT) and fallow no-tillage (NT_f). In addition, LLWR was determined for abandoned soils (i.e. control), compacted soils, ploughed compacted soils and abandoned soils with super absorbent polymers (SAPs) application. Soil water retention, penetration resistance (PR), air-filled porosity and bulk density were determined for the 0–5 and 0–25-cm depths. Mean LLWR (0.07–0.08 cm³ cm^?3) was lower in compacted soils than the soils under CT, NT, NT_f, RT, tilled, abandoned and SAP practices but it was not different among tillage practices. The values of LLWR were 0.12 cm³ cm^?3 for NT and CT. LLWR for tilled plots (0.12 cm³ cm^?3) became greater than compacted soils by 1.3 times. Analysis of the lower and upper limits of the LLWR further indicated that PR was the only limiting factor for soil water content, but aeration was not a limiting factor. The LLWR was more dependent on soil water content at permanent wilting point and at PR.