Acidic soils need to be improved of pH in order to maintian sustainable agricultural production. In order to ameliorate the pH, lime, available Ca and some other properties of acidic soils, materials that increase the soil pH value are needed. One of these organic substances is gyttja. Gyttja contains 30-40% CaCO3 and 40-50% organic matter, which is generated as waste in the Afşin Elbistan thermal power plant and its reserve is estimated to be 4.8 billion tons. The aim of this research was to determine the effects of applying different amounts of gyttja on soil pH, macro (Ca, Mg, K) and micronutrient (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu) elements. A pot experiment was conducted as a comletely randomized design with four different doses of the gyttja (0, 1, 2 and 4%) and three replications. After 6 months of incubation period under greenhouse conditions, soil samples were taken from the pots. The chemical properties such as pH, lime, organic matter, exchangeable Ca, Mg, K, DTPA-extractable Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn contents were analyzed. Soil pH, lime, organic matter and exchangeable Ca significantly (p

Organic matter is essential in improving the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils. Thus, the organic matter is widely considered a crucial indicator of environmental quality and biodiversity. In this study, the effect of gyttja addition as a soil conditioner on some physical and chemical properties of soils formed on volcanic and serpentine parent materials was investigated. The layout of the incubation study was randomized plots with 3 replications and the study lasted for 8 months to determine the value of gyttja in improving soil quality in two different parent materials. The results showed that pH, EC, total CaCO₃, soil organic matter (SOM), wet aggregate stability (WSA), structural stability index (SSI), Ca-ex, Mg-ex, Fe-ex and P-av values of volcanic soils were significantly increased with increasing gyttja addition rates, while dispersion ratio (DR), Cu-ex and Cd-ex values were decreased. Likewise, pH, total CaCO₃, SOM, WSA, SSI, Ca-ex and P-av values of serpentine soils were increased with increasing gyttja rates, while DR, Mg-ex, Fe-ex, Cd-ex, Ni-ex, Mn-ex, Cu-ex and Zn-ex values were decreased. The changes in the values of soil properties were statistically significant. The results demonstrated that gyttja addition overall decreased the erosion susceptibility and heavy metal contents of serpentine and volcanic soils. Moreover, the gyttja addition ameliorated some of the chemical soil properties. Therefore, gyttja could be suggested as a soil conditioner in the remediation of problematic soils.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of different doses of nitrogen (N) and boron (B) treatment on sugar harvest index (SHI), nitrogen harvest index (NHI), and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) parameters and to determine the economic optimum nitrogen rates (EONR) in sugar beet. The experiment was set up in a randomized block factorial design with three replications. Five doses of N (0, 90, 180, 270, and 360 kg N ha-1) and four doses of B (0, 2, 4, and 6 kg B ha-1) were applied in the study. According to the results of the research, the SHI decreased statistically significantly with the increase of dose of the N treatment, but the NHI was not affected by the N treatment. Physiological efficiency of nitrogen in taproot dry matter yield (NPETDMY) and physiological efficiency of nitrogen in sugar yield (NPESY) decreased statistically significantly (p<0.01) with the increase in the dose of N treatment. A similar case was observed in the parameters of nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAgE) and nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE). The increase in boron treatment doses statistically significantly (p<0.01) increased the NAgE in the first year. The EONR, calculated using the quadratic model, was found to be 240 kg N ha-1 on average of two years. As a result, the nitrogen use potential decreased with the increase of N doses applied to sugar beet. The use of EONR can be recommended for optimum yield and quality in the region.

Sürdürülebilir tarımsal üretim toprak kaynaklarının rasyonel kullanımı ile mümkündür. Bu kaynakların bilinçsiz kullanımı dış etkenlere karşı duyarlılığını artırmakta ve tarımsal üretimi kısıtlamaktadır. Toprak kaynaklarının dış etkenlere karşı muhafaza edilmesinde ve geliştirilmesinde en önemli kaynak organik materyallerdir. Toprakların organik madde içeriklerinin azalması ile toprakların fiziksel, kimyasal ve biyolojik özellikleri olumsuz etkilemektedir. Toprakların fizikokimyasal özelliklerinin iyileştirilmesinde kullanılabilecek materyallerden birisi de organik madde içeriği yüksek (%84.1) olan pirinadır. Pirina zeytin üreten tesislerde atık olarak çıkan organik kökenli bir materyaldir. Bu çalışmanın amacı; kumlu-tın tesktürlü bir toprağa pirina uygulayarak toprakların nem sabiteleri, kıvam indeksleri, su geçirgenliği, aşınabilirlik parametreleri, organik madde miktarı ve pH değerlerine olan etkileri incelemektir. Araştırmada pirina farklı oranlarda (%2, %4, %6 ve %8) kumlu tın tekstürlü bir toprağa uygulanmıştır. Çalışma tesadüf parselleri deneme desenine göre üç tekerrürlü olarak saksılarda yürütülmüştür. Çalışma başlangıcından 7 ay sonra alınan toprak analiz sonuçları değerlendirildiğinde; hidrolik iletkenlik, tarla kapasitesi, yarayışlı su, agregat stabilitesi, likit limit, plastik limit ve organik madde değerlerinin istatistiksel olarak önemli düzeyde (p<0.01) arttığı, buna karşın dispersiyon oranı, hacim ağırlığı ve pH değerlerinin ise benzer şekilde azaldığı görülmüştür. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre pirinanın hafif tekstürlü toprakların iyileştirilmesinde organik kaynak olarak kullanılması önerilebilir. Ancak, pirina uygulamasından hemen sonra yetiştirilecek bitkiye olan etkisi konusunda araştırmaların yapılmasında fayda vardır.

The importance of organic fertilizers for sustainable agricultural production is an undeniable fact. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of different organic fertilizers on the growth and quality properties of maize plants. Three different types of organic fertilizers; cattle manure, vermicompost and leonardite, and their doses of 2.500, 5.000, 7.500 and 10.000 kgha-1 were used in the experiment. In addition, conventional production and non-fertilized production were used as control applications. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiments were repeated to assess the residual effects of the treatments. Fertilizers were applied in 2018 to determine the residual effects of organic fertilizer applications in the second year. In the research; plant height, ear diameter, ear grain weight, 1000 grain weight, grain yield, protein ratio, oil ratio and starch ration were examined. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of different organic fertilizers on the yield components and grain content of the corn plant. These features varied between 180.72-157.87 cm, 39.38-33.59 mm, 117.1-62.2 g, 261.2-237.1 g, 4416.8-1712.9 kg ha-1, 7.8-5.9%, 2.5-2.1% and 74.7-73.8%, respectively. According to the results, the 2500 kgha-1 and 5000 kgha-1 doses of vermicompost had the highest values for the oil ratio and protein ratio, on the other hand the leonardite application of 10.000 kgha-1 for the starch ration had the highest value. Generally, conventional fertilizer application had the highest values for yield components.

One of the biggest threats to agro-ecosystems, especially in arid and semiarid areas, is the deterioration of soil quality, which is associated with low soil organic matter levels. Despite the elevated volume of publications related to soil quality and crops, information about specific plants such as the Capia pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cv.) with clear economic relevance in semiarid environments is missing. The aim of present study is to investigate the effects of different doses of manure on Capia pepper focusing on soil–plant interaction, soil quality, and plant yield in an experimental area located in Turkey. Key soil properties were monitored and relationships between plant and soil properties were evaluated using the principal component analysis (PCA). At the end of the first and second growing season, the effects of manure application on some plant and soil characteristics were statistically significant at different levels. According to the PCA result, 15 plant characteristics and 7 soil characteristics were grouped into five factors and defined 85.4% and 90.9% of the total variability in the population in the first and second growing seasons, respectively. Our research concluded that sustainable soil management such as the use of specific dose of manure improves soil quality and plant productivity.