this research was conducted at the department of horticluture, university of tehran during years 2005-2006, to investigate the use of iran apatite rocks in zeoponic substrate and as well to evaluate them as substitutes for phosphate fertilizers. five different substrates namely: m1: 89 wt. % soil+10 wt. % zeolite + 1 wt.% jeyrood apatite; m2: 82 wt.% soil + 15 wt.% zeolite+ 3 wt. % jeyrood apat...

How biotic and abiotic factors influence soil carbon (C) mineralization rate (RS) has recently emerged as one of the focal interests in ecological studies. To determine the relative effects of temperature, soil substrate and microbial community on Rs, we conducted a laboratory experiment involving reciprocal microbial inoculations of three zonal forest soils, and measured RS over a 61-day perio...

Soil carbon (C) storage is dependent upon the complex dynamics of fresh and native organic matter cycling, which are regulated by plant and soil-microbial activities. A fundamental challenge exists to link microbial biodiversity with plant-soil C cycling processes to elucidate the underlying mechanisms regulating soil carbon. To address this, we contrasted vegetated grassland soils with bare so...

Soil carbon is a major component in the global carbon cycle. Understanding the relationship between environmental changes and rates of soil respiration is critical for projecting changes in soil carbon fluxes in a changing climate. Although significant attention has been focused on the temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition, the factors that affect this temperature sensiti...

One-year-old seedlings of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) were grown in pots filled with a soil substrate that originated from an area polluted by a phosphate fertiliser factory and characterised by a high soil Al level and low Ca/Al ratio or with a substrate from an area regarded as free from toxic pollution. In addition the effect of fertilisation with a mixture of nutrients was evaluated...

[1] Changes in soil respiration, one of the major fluxes of global carbon cycling, could significantly slow down or accelerate the increase in atmospheric CO2, with consequent feedbacks to climate change. It is critical to understand how substrate availability regulates soil respiration in projecting the response of carbon cycling to changed climate. We conducted a clipping and shading experime...

A factorial experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of super absorbents and organic wastes of rice, olive marc, vermicompost and farmyard manure on the soil water holding capacity and the growth of plant based on randomized complete block design with 13 treatments at two irrigation intervals 5 and 10 days. The olive saplings with same heights and better appearances were planted...