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The European Space Agency (ESA), through the Climate Change Initiative (CCI), is currently providing nearly 4 decades of global satellite‐observed, fully homogenized soil moisture data for the uppermost 2–5 cm of the soil layer. These data are valuable as they comprise one of the most complete remotely sensed soil moisture data sets available in time and space. One main limitation of the ESA CCI soil moisture data set is the limited soil depth at which the moisture content is represented. In order to address this critical gap, we (a) estimate and calibrate the Soil Water Index using ESA CCI soil moisture against in situ observations from the International Soil Moisture Network and then (b) leverage machine learning techniques and physical soil, climate, and vegetation descriptors at a global scale to regionalize the calibration. We use this calibration to assess the root‐zone soil moisture for the period 2001–2018. The results are compared against the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts, ERA5 Land, and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System reanalyses soil moisture data sets, showing a good agreement, mainly over mid latitudes. This work contributes to the exploitation of ESA CCI soil moisture data, while the produced data can support large‐scale soil moisture‐related studies.
Manolis G. Grillakis; Aristeidis G. Koutroulis; Dimitrios D. Alexakis; Christos Polykretis; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Regionalizing Root‐Zone Soil Moisture Estimates From ESA CCI Soil Water Index Using Machine Learning and Information on Soil, Vegetation, and Climate. Water Resources Research 2021, 57, 1 .
AMA StyleManolis G. Grillakis, Aristeidis G. Koutroulis, Dimitrios D. Alexakis, Christos Polykretis, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Regionalizing Root‐Zone Soil Moisture Estimates From ESA CCI Soil Water Index Using Machine Learning and Information on Soil, Vegetation, and Climate. Water Resources Research. 2021; 57 (5):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleManolis G. Grillakis; Aristeidis G. Koutroulis; Dimitrios D. Alexakis; Christos Polykretis; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. 2021. "Regionalizing Root‐Zone Soil Moisture Estimates From ESA CCI Soil Water Index Using Machine Learning and Information on Soil, Vegetation, and Climate." Water Resources Research 57, no. 5: 1.
Soil erosion is a threat for the sustainability of agriculture and severely affects the Mediterranean crops. Olive groves are among the rainfed agriculture lands that exhibit soil and water losses due to the impact of unsustainable practices such as conventional tillage and herbicides abuse. To achieve a more sustainable olive oil production, alternative, greener crop management practices need to be tested in the field. Here, a weed cover (CW) treatment is tested at an olive tree plantation that has undergone conventional mechanical tillage for 20 years and results were compared against an adjacent control plantation that maintained tillage as a weed control strategy (CO). Both plantations were under the same tillage management for centuries and macroscopic analysis confirms they are otherwise comparable. Compared to the CO, where tilled soil cover was zero, 20 years of CW (weeds cover 64%; litter cover 5%) had led to significantly higher values of soil bulk density and soil organic matter. Results from rainfall simulation experiments at 55 mm h−1 on 0.25 m2 plots under CO (N = 25) and CW (N = 25) show that as a result of the improved soil structure, CW (i) reduced soil losses by two orders of magnitude (140 times), (ii) decreased runoff yield by one order of magnitude (from 2.65 till 27.6% of the rainfall), (iii) significantly reduced runoff sediment concentration (from 18.6 till 1.43 g l−1), and (iv) significantly delayed runoff generation (CO = 273 s; CW = 788 s). These results indicate that weed cover is a sustainable land management practice in Mediterranean olive groves and promotes sustainable agriculture production in mountainous areas under rainfed conditions, which are typically affected by high erosion rates such those found in the CO plots. Due to the spontaneous recovery of plant cover, we conclude that weed cover is an excellent nature-based solution to increase in the soil organic matter content and soil erosion reduction in rainfed olive orchards.
Artemi Cerdà; Enric Terol; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Weed cover controls soil and water losses in rainfed olive groves in Sierra de Enguera, eastern Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Environmental Management 2021, 290, 112516 .
AMA StyleArtemi Cerdà, Enric Terol, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Weed cover controls soil and water losses in rainfed olive groves in Sierra de Enguera, eastern Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Environmental Management. 2021; 290 ():112516.
Chicago/Turabian StyleArtemi Cerdà; Enric Terol; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. 2021. "Weed cover controls soil and water losses in rainfed olive groves in Sierra de Enguera, eastern Iberian Peninsula." Journal of Environmental Management 290, no. : 112516.
Soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a critical relationship with application in drainage, irrigation, soil physical behavior, and modeling water and nutrient transport. However, constructing the SWCC is tedious, time consuming, and often inaccurate. Recently, METER Group, Inc. (USA) introduced the HYPROP2© measurement system which allows semi-automated direct measurements of water retention and conductivity pairs over a relatively wide range of pressure head values using the Extended Evaporation Method (EEM) (Schindler et al., 2010). Nevertheless, even with HYPROP, depending on soil type, measurement of the characteristic curve under ambient conditions requires from 2 (clay) to 10 days (peat and sand) (Schindler et al., 2010). To expedite the method, here we propose a modification of HYPROP that facilitates consistent temperature and air flow around and over the soil sample ring to ensure constant evaporation from the soil sample. The prototype regulates soil sample temperature using two 5X10 cm heating pads (SparkFun Electronics, USA) insulated with glass fiber belt around the sample ring. Air flow is regulated by a blushless 40x40x10 mm fan (SparkFun Electronics, USA) mounted over the HYPROP apparatus. Temperature and fan speed are regulated by a DC step down module based on the LM2596 Simple Switcher® Power Converter (Texas Instruments, USA). All parts are 5 VDC and can be conveniently powered by USB. Here we compare the time required for HYPROP to estimate the SWCC curve for two hydroponic substrates (cocodust and perlite) and show that the resulting curve is identical, while the time required to process the sample is significantly reduced. These results, as well as extensive testing conducted by Daliakopoulos et al. (2020) and Papadimitriou et al. (2020) show that the HYPROP method can greatly benefit in terms of efficiency from including a similar system to control the evaporation rate.
References
Daliakopoulos, I.Ν., Papadimitriou, D., Matsoukas, T., Zotos, N., Moysiadis, H., Anastasopoulos, K., Mavrogiannis, I., Manios, T., 2020. Development and Preliminary Results from the Testbed Infrastructure of the DRIP Project. Proceedings 30, 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019030064
Papadimitriou, D., Kontaxakis, E., Daliakopoulos, I., Manios, T., Savvas, D., 2020. Effect of N:K Ratio and Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Growth and Yield of Hydroponically Grown Golden Thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.). Proceedings 30, 87. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019030087
Schindler, U., Durner, W., von Unold, G., Mueller, L., Wieland, R., 2010. The evaporation method: Extending the measurement range of soil hydraulic properties using the air-entry pressure of the ceramic cup. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.200900201
Acknowledgements
This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE (project codes: T1EDK-03372, Τ1EDK-04171)
Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Dimitrios Papadimitriou; Thrassyvoulos Manios. Improving the efficiency of HYPROP by controlling temperature and air flow. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos, Dimitrios Papadimitriou, Thrassyvoulos Manios. Improving the efficiency of HYPROP by controlling temperature and air flow. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos; Dimitrios Papadimitriou; Thrassyvoulos Manios. 2021. "Improving the efficiency of HYPROP by controlling temperature and air flow." , no. : 1.
Urban green infrastructure in the form of green roofs and vertical gardens is gradually becoming a mainstream development option to mitigate the negative impacts of dense urbanization, and primarily those associated with the urban heat island effect and the consequent vulnerability due to climate change (Nektarios and Ntoulas, 2017). Nevertheless, the quantification of the effect of green infrastructure in comparison to conventional infrastructure as well as tree parks and gardens, can be a challenge in a rapidly changing urban environment, especially due to historical gaps in environmental parameter monitoring. Here we propose the use of land surface temperature (LST) [oC] produced using freely available LandSat imagery at 30 m resolution, to evaluate the effect of green infrastructure on urban surface temperature. The method relies on the comparison of historical LST timeseries of an area of interest which has undergone urban greening interventions with adjacent city blocks that have retained their conventional urban character. The method is applied to evaluate the impact of the recently constructed Eco Campus Orange (ECO) garden, which has resulted from the renovation of 4 city blocks in Paris, France. Within an area over 3 ha, ECO employs environmentally friendly materials and 100,000 plants to feature 2,300 m2 of green wall and “the largest green roof of Europe”. For the area of interest, over 250 LandSat 5, 7, and 8 multispectral images dating from 2010 to 2020, were analyzed after Ermida et al. (2020). Results show that, since its construction, LST at ECO quickly dropped by over 2 oC, reaching the LST levels of adjacent urban parks. The method is ideal for ambient temperature timeseries reconstruction where long-term monitoring is sparce and can be applied to evaluate drastic landscape changes such as urban greening or vegetation thinning.
References
Ermida, S.L., Soares, P., Mantas, V., Göttsche, F.M., Trigo, I.F., 2020. Google earth engine open-source code for land surface temperature estimation from the landsat series. Remote Sens. https://doi.org/10.3390/RS12091471
Nektarios, P.A., Ntoulas, N., 2017. Designing green roofs for arid and semi-arid climates. The route towards the adaptive approach, in: Acta Horticulturae. International Society for Horticultural Science, pp. 197–202. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1189.39
Acknowledgements
The research was co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program RIS3Crete (COMPOLIVE: ΚΡΗΡ3-0028773)
The research of MG was co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program "Human Resource Development, Education and Lifelong Learning", under the Act "STRENGTHENING post-doctoral fellows / researchers - B cycle" (MIS 5033021) implemented by the State Scholarship Foundation.
Sofia Fidani; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Manolis Grillakis; Vasiliki Charalampopoulou; Panagiotis Nektarios. Evaluating the Effect of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating the Urban Heat Island Effect Using Remote Sensing. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleSofia Fidani, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Thrassyvoulos Manios, Manolis Grillakis, Vasiliki Charalampopoulou, Panagiotis Nektarios. Evaluating the Effect of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating the Urban Heat Island Effect Using Remote Sensing. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSofia Fidani; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Manolis Grillakis; Vasiliki Charalampopoulou; Panagiotis Nektarios. 2021. "Evaluating the Effect of Green Infrastructure in Mitigating the Urban Heat Island Effect Using Remote Sensing." , no. : 1.
Introducing edible salt-tolerant plant species to professional cultivation is a concept compatible with the need of improving the resilience of food systems to shocks and stresses, which is required to tackle eminent global challenges, such as water scarcity and climate change (Cuevas et al., 2019). Hydroponic systems can contribute to substantial savings of water, nutrients, and space, while increasing yield and produce quality (Savvas and Gruda, 2018). In the current study, we examined the feasibility of cultivating the wild edible green Scolymus hispanicus L. under moderate levels of salinity in a soilless cultivation system. The experiment was installed in October 2019, in an unheated saddle roof double-span greenhouse, as a completely randomized block design with 4 treatments and 4 blocks per treatment (Papadimitriou et al., 2020). Treatments were formed by supplying a standard nutrient solution (NS) with four NaCl concentrations (0.5, 5.0, 10.0, and 15.0 mM), resulting in electrical conductivities of 2.2, 2.8, 3.2, and 3.8 dS m-1, respectively. Measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) and relative chlorophyll levels (SPAD), which were performed to assess the photosynthetic capacity of leaves, did not indicate any significant differences between the non-salinized control (0.5 mM NaCl) and the salinity treatments (5.0, 10.0, and 15.0 mM NaCl), until 60 days after seedling transplanting (DAT). However, by 90 DAT, salinity levels of 10.0 and 15.0 mM significantly reduced leaf chlorophyll levels, as indicated by the SPAD indices, compared to 5.0 and 0.5 mM NaCl in the supplied NS. Moreover, by 90 DAT, the chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) was significantly reduced at the salinity level of 15.0 mM compared to 0.5 and 5.0 mM. Nevertheless, no salinity treatment had a significant impact on leaf fresh weight, root fresh weight, rosette diameter, number of leaves and post-harvest storability in plants harvested 90 and 120 DAT, compared to the control. Based on these results, S. hispanicus L. exhibits a considerable resilience to moderate salinity and can be considered a promising candidate plant for introduction in hydroponic cropping systems.
Acknowledgements
The research work was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) under the HFRI PhD Fellowship grant (Fellowship Number: 240).
References
Cuevas, J., Daliakopoulos, I.N., del Moral, F., Hueso, J.J., Tsanis, I.K., 2019. A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization. Agronomy 9, 295. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9060295
Papadimitriou, D., Kontaxakis, E., Daliakopoulos, I., Manios, T., Savvas, D., 2020. Effect of N:K Ratio and Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Growth and Yield of Hydroponically Grown Golden Thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.). Proceedings 30, 87.https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2019030087
Savvas, D., Gruda, N., 2018. Application of soilless culture technologies in the modern greenhouse industry - A review. Europ. J. Hort. Sci. 83, 280-293.
Dimitris Papadimitriou; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Dimitrios Savvas. Salinity tolerance in Scolymus hispanicus L: preliminary findings from a soilless cultivation. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleDimitris Papadimitriou, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Thrassyvoulos Manios, Dimitrios Savvas. Salinity tolerance in Scolymus hispanicus L: preliminary findings from a soilless cultivation. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDimitris Papadimitriou; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Dimitrios Savvas. 2021. "Salinity tolerance in Scolymus hispanicus L: preliminary findings from a soilless cultivation." , no. : 1.
Early season fruit production for the northern European market is highly intensive in fertilization, machinery, irrigation and the use of herbicides. Those conditions increase the soil losses and soil compaction and threaten the Sustainable Goals for Development of the United Nations by 2030. Long-term soil erosion measurements are necessary to determine the sustainability of agriculture managements. Moreover, soil erosion on flood irrigation land is a topic that request more surveys and research as rainfed sloping terrains attracted all the attention of scientists and research investment. Improved Stock Unearthing Method (ISUM) was applied to two 15 years-old herbicide treated fields of Saturn peaches (Prunus persica var. platycarpa) to determine long-term soil erosion rates (2004–2019). Using ISUM, a 1 mm thick nylon rope (700 mm length) was used to connect trees perpendicular to the direction of rows at the height of the graft. To detection soil lowering, the vertical distance of the rope to the soil surface was measured at 10 cm intervals along the rope. The ring method (264 samples at 0–6 cm) was used to determine the soil bulk density, which was in average 1.15 gr cm−3 for both plots. There was found a compaction in the centre of both plots due to the pass of machinery with mean bulk density values of 1.23 gr cm−3, meanwhile underneath of the trees, the soil bulk density was 1.05 gr cm−3. The topography survey carried out with ISUM (2508 sampling points) informed that flood irrigation redistributed the soil from the upper to the lower field position, where a sedimentation layer was measured. We found that the two studied fields showed a contrasted response, with low soil erosion values in Benimodo and high in L'Alcúdia study sites. Soil erosion rates were in average 1.46 Mg ha−1 yr−1 and 8.02 Mg ha−1 yr−1 for Benimodo and L'Alcúdia, respectively. However, the maps development using ISUM allow to inform that the pattern of soil redistribution is similar for both fields as the highest soil lowering was found in the upper field part, where the flood discharge detach soil particles. In the lower field position sedimentation takes place. The dataset allows us to conclude that soil erosion in Saturn peaches fields is non-sustainable and more soil conservation management should be applied to reduce the soil erosion rates due to the bare soils as a consequence of the use of herbicides. This research informs that soil erosion in flood irrigated fields is a relevant process that needs more investigations around the world, where 94% of the irrigated land is under flood or furrow irrigation, and where irrigation is growing year after year.
Artemi Cerdà; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Enric Terol; Agata Novara; Yalda Fatahi; Ehsan Moradi; Luca Salvati; Manuel Pulido. Long-term monitoring of soil bulk density and erosion rates in two Prunus Persica (L) plantations under flood irrigation and glyphosate herbicide treatment in La Ribera district, Spain. Journal of Environmental Management 2021, 282, 111965 .
AMA StyleArtemi Cerdà, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos, Enric Terol, Agata Novara, Yalda Fatahi, Ehsan Moradi, Luca Salvati, Manuel Pulido. Long-term monitoring of soil bulk density and erosion rates in two Prunus Persica (L) plantations under flood irrigation and glyphosate herbicide treatment in La Ribera district, Spain. Journal of Environmental Management. 2021; 282 ():111965.
Chicago/Turabian StyleArtemi Cerdà; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Enric Terol; Agata Novara; Yalda Fatahi; Ehsan Moradi; Luca Salvati; Manuel Pulido. 2021. "Long-term monitoring of soil bulk density and erosion rates in two Prunus Persica (L) plantations under flood irrigation and glyphosate herbicide treatment in La Ribera district, Spain." Journal of Environmental Management 282, no. : 111965.
Agricultural activities induce micro-topographical changes, soil compaction and structural changes due to soil cultivation, which directly affect ecosystem services. However, little is known about how these soil structural changes occur during and after the planting of orchards, and which key factors and processes play a major role in soil compaction due to cultivation works. This study evaluates the improved stock unearthing method (ISUM) as a low-cost and precise alternative to the tedious and costly traditional core sampling method, to characterize the changes in soil compaction in a representative persimmon orchard in Eastern Spain. To achieve this goal, firstly, in the field, undisturbed soil samples using metallic core rings (in January 2016 and 2019) were collected at different soil depths between 45 paired-trees, and topographic variations were determined following the protocol established by ISUM (January 2019). Our results show that soil bulk density (Bd) increases with depth and in the inter-row area, due to the effect of tractor passes and human trampling. The bulk density values of the top surface layers (0–12 cm) showed the lowest soil accumulation, but the highest temporal and spatial variability. Soil consolidation within three years after planting as calculated using the core samples was 12 mm, whereas when calculated with ISUM, it was 14 mm. The quality of the results with ISUM was better than with the traditional core method, due to the higher amount of sampling points. The ISUM is a promising method to measure soil compaction, but it is restricted to the land where soil erosion does not take place, or where soil erosion is measured to establish a balance of soil redistribution. Another positive contribution of ISUM is that it requires 24 h of technician work to acquire the data, whereas the core method requires 272 h. Our research is the first approach to use ISUM to quantify soil compaction and will contribute to applying innovative and low-cost monitoring methods to agricultural land and conserving ecosystem services.
Ehsan Moradi; Jesús Rodrigo-Comino; Enric Terol; Gaspar Mora-Navarro; Alexandre Marco Da Silva; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Hassan Khosravi; Manuel Pulido Fernández; Artemi Cerdà. Quantifying Soil Compaction in Persimmon Orchards Using ISUM (Improved Stock Unearthing Method) and Core Sampling Methods. Agriculture 2020, 10, 266 .
AMA StyleEhsan Moradi, Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, Enric Terol, Gaspar Mora-Navarro, Alexandre Marco Da Silva, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos, Hassan Khosravi, Manuel Pulido Fernández, Artemi Cerdà. Quantifying Soil Compaction in Persimmon Orchards Using ISUM (Improved Stock Unearthing Method) and Core Sampling Methods. Agriculture. 2020; 10 (7):266.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEhsan Moradi; Jesús Rodrigo-Comino; Enric Terol; Gaspar Mora-Navarro; Alexandre Marco Da Silva; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Hassan Khosravi; Manuel Pulido Fernández; Artemi Cerdà. 2020. "Quantifying Soil Compaction in Persimmon Orchards Using ISUM (Improved Stock Unearthing Method) and Core Sampling Methods." Agriculture 10, no. 7: 266.
There is an urgent need to implement environmentally friendly agriculture management practices to achieve the Sustainable Goals for Development (SDGs) of the United Nations by 2030. Mediterranean agriculture is characterized by intense and millennia-old tillage management and as a consequence degraded soil. No-Tillage has been widely examined as a solution for soil degradation but No-Tillage relies more on the application of herbicides that reduce plant cover, which in turn enhances soil erosion. However, No-Tillage with weed cover should be researched to promote organic farming and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, we compare Tillage against No-Tillage using weed cover as an alternative strategy to reduce soil losses in persimmon plantations, both of them under organic farming management. To achieve these goals, two plots were established at “La Canyadeta” experimental station on 25-years old Persimmon plantations, which are managed with Tillage and No-Tillage for 3 years. A survey of the soil cover, soil properties, runoff generation and initial soil losses using rainfall simulation experiments at 55 mm h−1 in 0.25 m2 plot was carried out. Soils under Tillage are bare (96.7%) in comparison to the No-Tillage (16.17% bare soil), with similar organic matter (1.71 vs. 1.88%) and with lower bulk densities (1.23 vs. 1.37 g cm3). Tillage induces faster ponding (60 vs. 92 s), runoff (90 vs. 320 s) and runoff outlet (200 vs. 70 s). The runoff discharge was 5.57 times higher in the Tillage plots, 8.64 for sediment concentration and 48.4 for soil losses. We conclude that No-tillage shifted the fate of the tilled field after 3 years with the use of weeds as a soil cover conservation strategy. This immediate effect of No-Tillage under organic farming conditions is very promising to achieve the SDGs.
Artemi Cerdà; Jesús Rodrigo-Comino; Tuğrul Yakupoğlu; Turgay Dindaroğlu; Enric Terol; Gaspar Mora-Navarro; Alireza Arabameri; Maja Radziemska; Agata Novara; Ataollah Kavian; Magdalena Daria Vaverková; Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod; Hafiz Mohkum Hammad; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Tillage Versus No-Tillage. Soil Properties and Hydrology in an Organic Persimmon Farm in Eastern Iberian Peninsula. Water 2020, 12, 1539 .
AMA StyleArtemi Cerdà, Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, Tuğrul Yakupoğlu, Turgay Dindaroğlu, Enric Terol, Gaspar Mora-Navarro, Alireza Arabameri, Maja Radziemska, Agata Novara, Ataollah Kavian, Magdalena Daria Vaverková, Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod, Hafiz Mohkum Hammad, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. Tillage Versus No-Tillage. Soil Properties and Hydrology in an Organic Persimmon Farm in Eastern Iberian Peninsula. Water. 2020; 12 (6):1539.
Chicago/Turabian StyleArtemi Cerdà; Jesús Rodrigo-Comino; Tuğrul Yakupoğlu; Turgay Dindaroğlu; Enric Terol; Gaspar Mora-Navarro; Alireza Arabameri; Maja Radziemska; Agata Novara; Ataollah Kavian; Magdalena Daria Vaverková; Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod; Hafiz Mohkum Hammad; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos. 2020. "Tillage Versus No-Tillage. Soil Properties and Hydrology in an Organic Persimmon Farm in Eastern Iberian Peninsula." Water 12, no. 6: 1539.
This paper explores methodologies for developing intelligent automated decision systems for complex processes that contain uncertainties, thus requiring computational intelligence. Irrigation decision support systems (IDSS) promise to increase water efficiency while sustaining crop yields. Here, we explored methodologies for developing intelligent IDSS that exploit statistical, measured, and simulated data. A simple and a fuzzy multicriteria approach as well as a Decision Tree based system were analyzed. The methodologies were applied in a sample of olive tree farms of Heraklion in the island of Crete, Greece, where water resources are scarce and crop management is generally empirical. The objective is to support decision for optimal financial profit through high yield while conserving water resources through optimal irrigation schemes under various (or uncertain) intrinsic and extrinsic conditions. Crop irrigation requirements are modelled using the FAO-56 equation. The results demonstrate that the decision support based on probabilistic and fuzzy approaches point to strategies with low amounts and careful distributed water irrigation strategies. The decision tree shows that decision can be optimized by examining coexisting factors. We conclude that irrigation-based decisions can be highly assisted by methods such as decision trees given the right choice of attributes while keeping focus on the financial balance between cost and revenue.
Panagiotis Christias; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Mariana Mocanu. Comparison of Three Computational Approaches for Tree Crop Irrigation Decision Support. Mathematics 2020, 8, 717 .
AMA StylePanagiotis Christias, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos, Thrassyvoulos Manios, Mariana Mocanu. Comparison of Three Computational Approaches for Tree Crop Irrigation Decision Support. Mathematics. 2020; 8 (5):717.
Chicago/Turabian StylePanagiotis Christias; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Mariana Mocanu. 2020. "Comparison of Three Computational Approaches for Tree Crop Irrigation Decision Support." Mathematics 8, no. 5: 717.
Soil improvement measures need to be ecologically credible, socially acceptable and economically affordable if they are to enter widespread use. However, in real world decision contexts not all measures can sufficiently meet these criteria. As such, developing, selecting and using appropriate tools to support more systematic appraisal of soil improvement measures in different decision-making contexts represents an important challenge. Tools differ in their aims, ranging from those focused on appraising issues of cost-effectiveness, wider ecosystem services impacts and adoption barriers/opportunities, to those seeking to foster participatory engagement and social learning. Despite the growing complexity of the decision-support tool landscape, comprehensive guidance for selecting tools that are best suited to appraise soil improvement measures, as well as those well-adapted to enable participatory deployment, has generally been lacking. We address this gap using the experience and survey data from an EU-funded project (RECARE: Preventing and REmediating degradation of soils in Europe through land CARE). RECARE applied different socio-cultural, biophysical and monetary appraisal tools to assess the costs, benefits and adoption of soil improvement measures across Europe. We focused on these appraisal tools and evaluated their performance against three broad attributes that gauge their differences and suitability for widespread deployment to aid stakeholder decision making in soil management. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered to RECARE researchers. Although some tools worked better than others across case studies, the information collated was used to provide guiding strategies for choosing appropriate tools, considering resources and data availability, characterisation of uncertainty, and the purpose for which a specific soil improvement measure is being developed or promoted. This paper provides insights to others working in practical soil improvement contexts as to why getting the tools right matters. It demonstrates how use of the right tools can add value to decision-making in ameliorating soil threats, supporting the sustainable management of the services that our soil ecosystems provide.
Uche T. Okpara; Luuk Fleskens; Lindsay C. Stringer; Rudi Hessel; Felicitas Bachmann; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Kerstin Berglund; Francisco Jose Blanco Velazquez; Nicola Dal Ferro; Jacob Keizer; Silvia Kohnova; Tatenda Lemann; Claire Quinn; Gudrun Schwilch; Grzegorz Siebielec; Kamilla Skaalsveen; Mark Tibbett; Christos Zoumides. Helping stakeholders select and apply appraisal tools to mitigate soil threats: Researchers’ experiences from across Europe. Journal of Environmental Management 2019, 257, 110005 .
AMA StyleUche T. Okpara, Luuk Fleskens, Lindsay C. Stringer, Rudi Hessel, Felicitas Bachmann, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Kerstin Berglund, Francisco Jose Blanco Velazquez, Nicola Dal Ferro, Jacob Keizer, Silvia Kohnova, Tatenda Lemann, Claire Quinn, Gudrun Schwilch, Grzegorz Siebielec, Kamilla Skaalsveen, Mark Tibbett, Christos Zoumides. Helping stakeholders select and apply appraisal tools to mitigate soil threats: Researchers’ experiences from across Europe. Journal of Environmental Management. 2019; 257 ():110005.
Chicago/Turabian StyleUche T. Okpara; Luuk Fleskens; Lindsay C. Stringer; Rudi Hessel; Felicitas Bachmann; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Kerstin Berglund; Francisco Jose Blanco Velazquez; Nicola Dal Ferro; Jacob Keizer; Silvia Kohnova; Tatenda Lemann; Claire Quinn; Gudrun Schwilch; Grzegorz Siebielec; Kamilla Skaalsveen; Mark Tibbett; Christos Zoumides. 2019. "Helping stakeholders select and apply appraisal tools to mitigate soil threats: Researchers’ experiences from across Europe." Journal of Environmental Management 257, no. : 110005.
Our Planet suffers from human activities. As scientists, we know more and more about our environment, about processes, rates of change, new threats, and risks. However, the challenges we face seem to grow quicker than the solutions we can create. To achieve sustainability, the key is to make solutions not only functional from an environmental point of view, but also socially acceptable and economically viable. In this context, the TERRAenVISION conference series gathers diverse groups of scientists to discuss sustainability. The first TERRAenVISION meeting in January 2018 was framed around 7 themes: (1) Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation, (2) Water Resources: Quality and Quantity, (3) Land Degradation and Restoration, (4) Nature-based Solutions, (5) Fire in the Earth System, Effects and Prevention, (6) Ecosystem Services and Health, and (7) Science Interface with Policy and Public. Among the works presented in the conference, this Special Issue collates 22 papers that illustrate the best, problems and solutions the scientific community is currently working on to achieve sustainability. Similar to the concept of the SDGs, paper subjects often intertwine and bridge the conference themes. The papers are grouped in two main chapters dealing with Water and Land, with two additional cross cutting chapters of Scientific Tools and Science-Policy Interface. Drawing from the conclusions of these works as well as those of the TERRAenVISION 2018 conference, we make recommendations regarding raising awareness, connecting scientific fields, and supporting robust economic and policy transitions.
Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Saskia Keesstra. TERRAenVISION: Science for Society. Environmental issues today. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 704, 135238 .
AMA StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos, Saskia Keesstra. TERRAenVISION: Science for Society. Environmental issues today. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 704 ():135238.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos; Saskia Keesstra. 2019. "TERRAenVISION: Science for Society. Environmental issues today." Science of The Total Environment 704, no. : 135238.
A major challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals linked to Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition, under the current global crop production paradigm, is that increasing crop yields often have negative environmental impacts. It is therefore urgent to develop and adopt optimal soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) that can allow us to decouple these system parameters. Soil salinization is a major environmental hazard that limits agricultural potential and is closely linked to agricultural mismanagement and water resources overexploitation, especially in arid climates. Here we review literature seeking to ameliorate the negative effect of soil salinization on crop productivity and conduct a global meta-analysis of 128 paired soil quality and yield observations from 30 studies. In this regard, we compared the effectivity of different SICS that aim to cope with soil salinization across 11 countries, in order to reveal those that are the most promising. The analysis shows that besides case-specific optimization of irrigation and drainage management, combinations of soil amendments, conditioners, and residue management can contribute to significant reductions of soil salinity while significantly increasing crop yields. These results highlight that conservation agriculture can also achieve the higher yields required for upscaling and sustaining crop production.
Julián Cuevas; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Fernando Del Moral; Juan J. Hueso; Ioannis K. Tsanis. A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization. Agronomy 2019, 9, 295 .
AMA StyleJulián Cuevas, Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos, Fernando Del Moral, Juan J. Hueso, Ioannis K. Tsanis. A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization. Agronomy. 2019; 9 (6):295.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJulián Cuevas; Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Fernando Del Moral; Juan J. Hueso; Ioannis K. Tsanis. 2019. "A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization." Agronomy 9, no. 6: 295.
Land subsidence caused by land use change and overexploitation of groundwater is an example of mismanagement of natural resources, yet subsidence remains difficult to predict. In this study, the relationship between land subsidence features and geo-environmental factors is investigated by comparing two machine learning algorithms (MLA): maximum entropy (MaxEnt) and genetic algorithm rule-set production (GARP) algorithms in the Kashmar Region, Iran. Land subsidence features (N = 79) were mapped using field surveys. Land use, lithology, the distance from traditional groundwater abstraction systems (Qanats), from afforestation projects, from neighboring faults, and the drawdown of groundwater level (DGL) (1991-2016) were used as predictive variables. Jackknife resampling showed that DGL, distance from afforestation projects, and distance from Qanat systems are major factors influencing land subsidence, with geology and faults being less important. The GARP algorithm outperformed the MaxEnt algorithm for all performance metrics. The performance of both models, as measured by the area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUROC), decreased from 88.9-94.4% to 82.5-90.3% when DGL was excluded as a predictor, though the performance of GARP was still good to excellent even without DGL. MLAs produced maps of subsidence risk with acceptable accuracy, both with and without data on groundwater drawdown, suggesting that MLAs can usefully inform efforts to manage subsidence in data-scarce regions, though the highest accuracy requires data on changes in groundwater level.
Omid Rahmati; Ali Golkarian; Trent Biggs; Saskia Keesstra; Farnoush Mohammadi; Ioannis Daliakopoulos. Land subsidence hazard modeling: Machine learning to identify predictors and the role of human activities. Journal of Environmental Management 2019, 236, 466 -480.
AMA StyleOmid Rahmati, Ali Golkarian, Trent Biggs, Saskia Keesstra, Farnoush Mohammadi, Ioannis Daliakopoulos. Land subsidence hazard modeling: Machine learning to identify predictors and the role of human activities. Journal of Environmental Management. 2019; 236 ():466-480.
Chicago/Turabian StyleOmid Rahmati; Ali Golkarian; Trent Biggs; Saskia Keesstra; Farnoush Mohammadi; Ioannis Daliakopoulos. 2019. "Land subsidence hazard modeling: Machine learning to identify predictors and the role of human activities." Journal of Environmental Management 236, no. : 466-480.
A module for Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite stereo-pair imagery processing and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) extraction is presented. A large file size of VHR satellite imagery is handled using the parallel processing of cascading image tiles. The Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm detects potentially tentative feature matches, and the resulting feature pairs are filtered using a variable distance threshold RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm. Finally, point cloud ground coordinates for DEM generation are extracted from the homologous pairs. The criteria of average point spacing irregularity is introduced to assess the effective resolution of the produced DEMs. The module is tested with a 0.5 m × 0.5 m Geoeye-1 stereo pair over the island of Crete, Greece. Sensitivity analysis determines the optimum module parameterization. The resulting 1.5-m DEM has superior detail over reference DEMs, and results in a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of about 1 m compared to ground truth measurements.
Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Ioannis K. Tsanis. A SIFT-Based DEM Extraction Approach Using GEOEYE-1 Satellite Stereo Pairs. Sensors 2019, 19, 1123 .
AMA StyleIoannis N. Daliakopoulos, Ioannis K. Tsanis. A SIFT-Based DEM Extraction Approach Using GEOEYE-1 Satellite Stereo Pairs. Sensors. 2019; 19 (5):1123.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis N. Daliakopoulos; Ioannis K. Tsanis. 2019. "A SIFT-Based DEM Extraction Approach Using GEOEYE-1 Satellite Stereo Pairs." Sensors 19, no. 5: 1123.
The increase of source-separation of bio-waste, largely represented by food waste, and their subsequent biological treatment, is essential in waste management strategy. Aerobic and biological composting of bio-waste is a process that requires experience and technical skills, thus backyard composting can be a challenging task for the average household, with failed attempts often leading to its abandonment. Here we present the development of an integrated system including a low-cost sensor, a smart phone application, and a cloud-based service that can assist in backyard composting. The system builds on the composting-as-a-service concept. Installed in a waterproof capsule, the sensor monitors temperature at the core of the compost pile and transmits the readings to a smartphone application using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. Based on compost temperature readings and a data feed of environmental parameters, a cloud-based service provides insight on the status of the composting process and advice for manual intervention. By supplying timely information for compost pile management, the system can increase the potential for producing a high-quality compost soil amendment and therefore the probability that backyard composting is adopted by the user. In the context of the backyard composting activity of the UIA A2UFood Project, the system is tested in a community of 100 households in Heraklion, Crete, and preliminary results are presented.
Ioannis Daliakopoulos; George Daskalakis; Nikolaos Markakis; Nikolaos Papastefanakis; Thrassyvoulos Manios. Automatic Monitoring of a Community Backyard Composting Program. Proceedings 2019, 30, 45 .
AMA StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos, George Daskalakis, Nikolaos Markakis, Nikolaos Papastefanakis, Thrassyvoulos Manios. Automatic Monitoring of a Community Backyard Composting Program. Proceedings. 2019; 30 (1):45.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis Daliakopoulos; George Daskalakis; Nikolaos Markakis; Nikolaos Papastefanakis; Thrassyvoulos Manios. 2019. "Automatic Monitoring of a Community Backyard Composting Program." Proceedings 30, no. 1: 45.
Striving to tackle a common water resource scarcity problem, the Drip Irrigation Precise (DRIP) Project aims to develop a state-of-the-art integrated system that will optimize tree crop irrigation (Petousi et al. 2018). To this end, we have developed 5 free lysimeters measuring 3 m in height and 3 m in diameter, each with a total effective volume of ca. 20 m3. Lysimeters were planted with 5 10-year-old olive trees, including their root ball to a depth of 1 m, monolithically transplanted from the experimental olive orchard of the Hellenic Mediterranean University, Greece. The remaining volume was layered with soil from the same source and a gravel filter to allow leaching. Each lysimeter is equipped with IoT sensors relevant to the modeling of the soil-plant-water system; 12 measuring soil moisture, temperature, and electrical conductivity, and one measuring leachate flow. Additionally, meteorological parameters are monitored for the entire infrastructure. Sensors provide real time data to an on-line system, through a network of 15 telecommunication nodes that, together with an edge-gateway, form a local wireless 6LoWPAN mesh network, thus implementing a state-of-the-art Internet of Things (IoT) system. Experimental data collected from the lysimeters are used to model water movement using the HYDRYS 2D/3D model. Modeling output will be used for the development the commercial DRIP system, an advanced irrigation scheduler designed for the harsh conditions of the agricultural environment that utilizes feedback from environmental sensors for optimal irrigation.
Ioannis Ν. Daliakopoulos; Dimitrios Papadimitriou; Theofilos Matsoukas; Nikolaos Zotos; Harris Moysiadis; Konstantinos Anastasopoulos; Ioannis Mavrogiannis; Thrassyvoulos Manios. Development and Preliminary Results from the Testbed Infrastructure of the DRIP Project. Proceedings 2019, 30, 64 .
AMA StyleIoannis Ν. Daliakopoulos, Dimitrios Papadimitriou, Theofilos Matsoukas, Nikolaos Zotos, Harris Moysiadis, Konstantinos Anastasopoulos, Ioannis Mavrogiannis, Thrassyvoulos Manios. Development and Preliminary Results from the Testbed Infrastructure of the DRIP Project. Proceedings. 2019; 30 (1):64.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis Ν. Daliakopoulos; Dimitrios Papadimitriou; Theofilos Matsoukas; Nikolaos Zotos; Harris Moysiadis; Konstantinos Anastasopoulos; Ioannis Mavrogiannis; Thrassyvoulos Manios. 2019. "Development and Preliminary Results from the Testbed Infrastructure of the DRIP Project." Proceedings 30, no. 1: 64.
The Mediterranean region has experienced substantial changes over the centuries. Persistenthydro-climatic trends have prevailed over the region and have particularly intensified during therecent decades
Aristeidis Koutroulis; Manolis Grillakis; Ioannis Tsanis; Ioannis Daliakopoulos. Projections of Mediterranean Freshwater Vulnerability in a Global Context and Emerging Adaptation Developments at the Local Scale. Proceedings 2019, 30, 31 .
AMA StyleAristeidis Koutroulis, Manolis Grillakis, Ioannis Tsanis, Ioannis Daliakopoulos. Projections of Mediterranean Freshwater Vulnerability in a Global Context and Emerging Adaptation Developments at the Local Scale. Proceedings. 2019; 30 (1):31.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAristeidis Koutroulis; Manolis Grillakis; Ioannis Tsanis; Ioannis Daliakopoulos. 2019. "Projections of Mediterranean Freshwater Vulnerability in a Global Context and Emerging Adaptation Developments at the Local Scale." Proceedings 30, no. 1: 31.
Under arid conditions, where water availability is the limiting factor for plant survival, water balance models can be used to explain vegetation dynamics.
Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos; Ioanna Panagea; Luca Brocca; Erik Van Den Elsen. Soil Water Balance and Vegetation Dynamics in a Semi-arid Mediterranean Ecosystem. Proceedings 2019, 30, 76 .
AMA StyleIoannis N. Daliakopoulos, Ioanna Panagea, Luca Brocca, Erik Van Den Elsen. Soil Water Balance and Vegetation Dynamics in a Semi-arid Mediterranean Ecosystem. Proceedings. 2019; 30 (1):76.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIoannis N. Daliakopoulos; Ioanna Panagea; Luca Brocca; Erik Van Den Elsen. 2019. "Soil Water Balance and Vegetation Dynamics in a Semi-arid Mediterranean Ecosystem." Proceedings 30, no. 1: 76.
As the demand for high-quality wild greens rises, due to their high nutritional, culinary, and medicinal properties, the potential overexploitation and excessive disruption of their natural habitats bring serious environmental problems to the foreground. However, new alternative cultivation techniques, such as hydroponic cultivation, could take advantage of rational water management, optimal fertilization management and climate adaptation, to produce high-quality wild greens, all year round. As an initial step to assess optimal hydroponic cultivation conditions for golden thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.), in this study we evaluated the effect of N:K ratio and electrical conductivity (EC) in the supplied nutrient solution on plant growth, yield and phenology. Four nutrient solutions were applied with a low or a high N:K ratio (1.59 or 2.38 mol/mol, respectively) combined with a low or a high electrical conductivity (EC) level (2.2 and 2.8 dS m−1, respectively) in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment set as a completely randomized block design with 4 blocks and 48 plants per block. Golden thistle seedlings were planted in plastic growth-bags of hydroponic perlite substrate in an open, drip-irrigated, soilless cultivation system. The experiment commenced in December 2018, in a plastic greenhouse at the campus of the Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete, Greece. After four months of cultivation, the post-harvest analysis showed that the high N:K ratio significantly increased the fresh weight of leaf and edible tuberous root, whereas the tested EC levels in the nutrient solution had no impact on plant fresh weight. The experimental treatments did not significantly affect leaf chlorophyll concentration (SPAD meter readings), chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) or the number of leaves and the specific weight of the tuberous root of the plants. Our results indicate that wild golden thistle could be domesticated as an edible vegetable, and cultivated hydroponically at different seasons of the year using relatively low nutrient concentrations, thereby minimizing aquifer nitrate and phosphate pollution. A nutrient solution with a relatively high N:K ratio (here 2.38 mol/mol) is recommended for the hydroponic cultivation of golden thistle.
Dimitrios Papadimitriou; Emmanouil Kontaxakis; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Dimitrios Savvas. Effect of N:K Ratio and Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Growth and Yield of Hydroponically Grown Golden Thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.). Proceedings 2019, 30, 87 .
AMA StyleDimitrios Papadimitriou, Emmanouil Kontaxakis, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Thrassyvoulos Manios, Dimitrios Savvas. Effect of N:K Ratio and Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Growth and Yield of Hydroponically Grown Golden Thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.). Proceedings. 2019; 30 (1):87.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDimitrios Papadimitriou; Emmanouil Kontaxakis; Ioannis Daliakopoulos; Thrassyvoulos Manios; Dimitrios Savvas. 2019. "Effect of N:K Ratio and Electrical Conductivity of Nutrient Solution on Growth and Yield of Hydroponically Grown Golden Thistle (Scolymus hispanicus L.)." Proceedings 30, no. 1: 87.
Protected horticultural crops in the Mediterranean region are typically under deficit irrigation and intensive cultivation practices and must cope with poor irrigation and soil quality due to salinization. The effects of variable irrigation water quality and use of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma harzianum on the evolution of soil salinization and yield during a single cropping season are examined at a small-scale Solanum lycopersicum L. cv Elpida greenhouse experiment. The experiment simulates typical coastal Mediterranean greenhouse cultivation conditions of the RECARE Project soil salinization Case Study in Greece (Timpaki basin in Crete). Local NaCl-free but highly calcareous planting soil as well as local cultivation practices were used to replicate prevailing conditions at the Case Study. Tomato plants were drip irrigated with NaCl solutions of low (L) (ECw = 1.1 dS m−1) and high (H) (ECw = 3.5 dS m−1) concentration to emulate a typical “good quality” and “marginal quality” irrigation water, respectively. T. harzianum (T) was selectively applied resulting in a total of 2 treatments colonized with the fungus (LT, HT) and two not (N) colonized (LN, HN). For high salinity irrigation treatments HN and HT, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) values settled at 22.2 and 13.4, respectively, showing that T. harzianum reduced the effect salinity significantly. Monitoring of soil nutrients showed a significant decrease of P-Olsen in non-T. harzianum treatments versus no change in P-Olsen in T. harzianum treatments. Final total and marketable tomato yield for treatment HN were reduced compared to LN by 28% and 42%, respectively, with in T. harzianum treatments having no significant effect. Fruit quality characteristics were overall less sensitive to higher irrigation salinity than to timing of harvest. We conclude that, under high salinity irrigation, an early harvest and termination of the cultivation has no significant impact on tomato yield while obviating pressure on soil resources and conserving agricultural input.
I.N. Daliakopoulos; A. Apostolakis; K. Wagner; A. Deligianni; D. Koutskoudis; A. Stamatakis; I.K. Tsanis. Effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum in soil and yield conservation of tomato crops under saline irrigation. CATENA 2018, 175, 144 -153.
AMA StyleI.N. Daliakopoulos, A. Apostolakis, K. Wagner, A. Deligianni, D. Koutskoudis, A. Stamatakis, I.K. Tsanis. Effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum in soil and yield conservation of tomato crops under saline irrigation. CATENA. 2018; 175 ():144-153.
Chicago/Turabian StyleI.N. Daliakopoulos; A. Apostolakis; K. Wagner; A. Deligianni; D. Koutskoudis; A. Stamatakis; I.K. Tsanis. 2018. "Effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum in soil and yield conservation of tomato crops under saline irrigation." CATENA 175, no. : 144-153.