Volume 14, Issue 4 (12-2020)                   مرتع 2020, 14(4): 622-633 | Back to browse issues page

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Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Agricultre and natural resource, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad
Abstract:   (2617 Views)
Soil compaction reduces pore space in the soil and subsequently diminishes the diameter of capillary tubes in the soil. This limits the plant's access to minerals and pore water. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate soil compaction in order to improve rangeland’s management as well as agricultural lands. In this study, soil compaction effect on root growth of five rangeland plant species, Ferula gummosa, Agropyrin elangatum, Medicago minima, Atriplex canescens and Atriplex lentiformis, at laboratory scale was investigated. First, three soil compaction levels (0.36, 0.47 and 0.56 persentage of porosity) for a loam-clay soil were provided using hammer dropping method within plastic pots. In the next step, three seeds from each species were cultivated in each plastic pot with three replications. After a period of 60 days, the length of main and subsidiary roots were measured. One way ANOVA test method was used for statistical analysis of data. Results shows a linear relationship between soil compaction and growth of main and subsidiary root for cultivated species. So, with decreasing in soil compaction degree, the growth of main and subsidiary root was significantly increased. Comparison of main and subsidiary root growth of the studied plant species showed that the growth of main root of Atriplex canescens was higher than other species in all soil compaction levels. Moreover, Atriplex canescens was only species in which its subsidiary roots length was not significantly different in all soil compaction levels. Also, in two plant species of Medicago minima and Atriplex lentiformis, there is not significantly different between the growth of their main roots in all soil compaction levels. Results showed that subsidiary root number increased with reducing soil compaction. The highest percentage of measured frequency in all plants is related to the subsidiary roots of 0-100 cm in porosity of 56%. Therefore, by increasing the amount of porosity and consequently increasing soil porosity, the conditions for longitudinal growth of the roots of rangeland plants are provided. However, the rate of root growth changes in the subsidiary roots is far greater than the main root.
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2021/01/15 | Accepted: 2020/12/30 | Published: 2020/12/30

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