The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different treatments on seed germination in the desert plant speciesCalotropis persica(Gand.). This species is known to have long time for seed germination considering arid region condition and short time of access moist. An experiment was performed with 13 treatments and 4 replications in a completely randomized design. Treatments included KNO3with concentrations of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 percent, immersion in hot water for five min, acetylsalicylic acid 100, 200, and 300 mg L−1, ethereal sulfuric acid (60%) for 5 and 10 min, thiourea with concentrations of 0.1% and 0.3%, and prechilling for 10 days. Tap water was used as the control. Our findings indicate that KNO30.1% and 100 mg L−1acetylsalicylic acid were the most effective treatments for improvement of seed germination properties in this species. In a comparison of the two mentioned treatment, KNO30.1% treatments is the best.

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To cite this article (Atıf): Sheikh, V.B., Shalamzari, M.J., Farajollahi, A., 2017. Sediment-bound Abstract: Soil erosion is not only the loss of soil particles, but also the loss of sediment-bounded nutrients and elements. One the principle methods of the assessment of soil erosion and nutrient loss, is to use rainfall simulators. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of land-use, slope gradient and direction on the loss of soil nutrients in Kechik Coupled Watershed Site in Golestan Province using rainfall simulation. In order to determine the sediment's content of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous, flame photometry, Kjedalhl and spectrophotometry methods were used. To estimate organic carbon, the Walkey-Black method was exercised. Given the results, the highest obtained values of nitrogen loss was attributed to the agricultural land-use. This follows rangeland and forest; although, with a slight difference. Potassium loss was greatest in the rangelands by 0.15 t.ha-1, and agriculture and forest ranked second and third. Soil nutrient loss in terms of phosphorus, was maximum in the forest land-use and then respectively, agriculture and rangelands. Soil organic carbon loss was maximally measured in the forest, rangeland and agriculture, respectively. In this study, two slope classes of 0-20 and 20-40 was considered in the forest and rangeland land-uses, while the classification of slope gradient in agricultural land-use was in different two classes of 0-15 and 15-30. According the findings, soil nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter loss was highest in case of the second slope gradient class (20-40% in rangelands and agricultural fields; 20-40 % in forest land-uses) of all land-uses and aspects. Interestingly, soil potassium loss was greatest in the first slope class. Northern slope directions had the highest soil nutrient loss compared with the southern direction in all land-use types. The findings of this study put emphasis on the land-use management and primarily underlines the role of agricultural land-uses. Keywords: Nutrient loss, land-use, kechik, erosion, BSTF1, GolestanYağış simülasyonu modeli kullanarak toprak ve besin maddesi kayıplarının hesaplanması Özet: Toprak erozyonu sadece toprak parçacıkları kaybı değil, aynı zamanda besin ve elementlerin de kaybıdır. Toprak erozyonu ve besin kaybını ölçmek için yağış simülatörleri kullanmaktır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, arazi kullanımı ve eğim parametrelerini kullanarak Gülistan Eyaleti-Kechik su havzasında yağış simülasyonu modeli kullanarak toprak ve besin kaybını hesaplamaktır. Sedimentlerdeki potasyum, azot ve fosfor içeriğini belirlemek için, Kjedalhl ve spektrofotometri yöntemleri kullanılmıştır. Organik karbon tahmini için ise Walkey-Black Metodu kullanılmıştır. Sonuçlar göz önüne alındığında, azot kaybının en yüksek olduğu alanlar tarımsal arazilerdir. Bunu; küçük bir fark ile meralar ve orman izlemektedir. Potasyum kaybı 0.15 t.ha-1 ile en fazla meralarda görülmüş, tarım ve orman alanları ise ikinci ve üçüncü sırada yer almıştır. Fosfor yönü...

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Land degradation and desertification caused by land use change is mainly due to human activities in arid and semi-arid and affect on the sustainable use of lands. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of land use changes on the desertification hazard in Maraveh Tappeh region. In this research, land use maps of 1986, 2000 and 2014 is provided using images of MSS, ETM and OLI sensors of Landsat satellite and land use map of 2024 is predicted using Markov chain model. According to the results, dense forest area is decreased during study period and with passing time, the area of agricultural land has increased. The results for the time interval of 2014-2028, showed it is possible that will be decreased semi-dense forest and dense rangelands and will be increased other land-use areas according to results of model predictions. In the study years, desertification maps were prepared using ESAs method and with the assumption of fixed all factors other than land use factor. The results showed that there was a lack of desertification as a class in 1986, but this class has been removed in other study years and has been added the area of this class into other classes. The compare of desertification hazard classes and theirs percentage of area in studied time periods showed that critical (C3) and fragile (F3) classes had increasing trend, clearly. The difference between classes since 1986 to 2000 is clearer and more specific and destruction seem clearer.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the spatial variation of heavy metals concentrations released by a Kurdistan cement plant and determine the level of soil and plant contamination with lead, chromium and cadmium around the cement factory in Kurdistan province and adjacent rangeland areas. Soil and plant (Astragalus gossypinus and wheat) sampling was undertaken along eight compass directions; samples spaced 500 m apart at 4500 m intervals along each direction from a location centered on the factory. After chemical digestion of samples, the concentration of the elements was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Accumulation status and spatial variation of metals assessed at different distances from the factory (source of pollution) through two soil depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm). Results showed that soil layer depth, compass directions and distance from the factory signifi cantly affected the geo-accumulation of heavy metals in the soil. The bioaccumulation factor and translocation factor indicated that the lowest accumulation and transport rates of the pollutants in plant species are generally met, with both factors being below 1. The results also demonstrated that the highest amounts of Pb, Cr and Cd were in the surface soil (0-15 cm) at 60.86, 115.38 and 3.97 respectively, in the northerly direction. Spatial distribution of heavy metals was strongly infl uenced by the prevailing wind direction (from south to north). Heavy metal concentrations reported in this study are ascribed principally to the cement factory and its long years of operation and continual processing over nearly 25 years.

Proper implementation of the participatory projects to conserve national natural resources has become much more important over the recent decades. This socio-economic research seeks developing effective strategies to increase public participation in experts' opinions of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (Iran), in order to achieve sustainable and integrated management of natural resources. In the first step, the literature review led to the identification of 57 social parameters influencing public participation in the province. In the second step, from the parameters identified, with the help of the Delphi technique, 15 parameters were finalized by experts. This led to the formulation of the effective socioeconomic strategies in the study area. The next step was to prioritize these parameters. For this purpose, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used in Topsis solver software. The study's statistical population was comprised of the executive experts of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. The results of the prioritization indicated that the strategy of "the development of alternative livelihoods (A6)" ranks first with normal weight of 0.31, followed by "focus on profitable projects (A2)" with the normal weight of 0.2, and "strengthening social cohesion and trust (A7 )" with the normal weight of 0.12, as the most important strategies to increase public participation. The results of this study can be used by managers and executive decision-makers to protect natural resources and increase feasibility of management activities in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. ©JASEM https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v21i3.8