Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Soil Science, Agronomy and Crop Science, Plant Science
106
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Using principal component analysis to distinguish sources of radioactivity and nitrates contamination in Southern Tunisian groundwater samples Tiziano Boschetti, Younes Hamed, Rihab Hadji, Maurizio Barbieri, Matteo Gentilucci, Mattia Rossi, Rayan Khalil, Shuhab D. Khan, Bassem Asghar, Abdulrasoul Al-Omran, Elimame Elaloui Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 2025 The manuscript discusses using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to distinguish the sources of radioactive and nitrate contamination in 33 groundwater samples from southern Tunisia. The study focuses on the Gafsa basin, an area known for its phosphate mining activities and significant agricultural use, both of which contribute to the contamination of groundwater resources. The radioactivity in the water is primarily attributed to phosphate mining and deep groundwater sources from the North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS). Additionally, the nitrate contamination is largely due to agricultural runoff, though secondary sources related to phosphate mining are also considered. Through the application of PCA, the study was able to classify the groundwater samples into different groups based on their contamination sources: phosphate mining, combined agricultural and mining activities, fossil geothermal waters, and low-agricultural areas. The PCA revealed that samples most affected by anthropogenic activities exhibited high levels of radium and nitrate, with contamination patterns correlating with specific environmental and chemical factors. This analysis underscores the complexity of groundwater contamination in the region and highlights the need for targeted mitigation strategies to address radioactive and nitrate pollution in southern Tunisia. The study provides critical insights for managing water quality in areas with similar environmental challenges. • Groundwater contamination • Principal component analysis (PCA) • Sources of contamination • Significance of nitrate contamination • PCA findings
Wastewater resources, agricultural practices management strategies, soil salinity predictions and artificial recharge in the Middle East-Saudi Arabia: A review Younes Hamed, Yosra Ayadi, Rayan Khalil, Abdulrasoul Al-Omran, Fethi Lebdi, Latifa Dhaouadi Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, 2024 Water scarcity threatens agriculture, domestic, industrial, and food security in the land of Saudi Arabia. The nation produces significant quantities of municipal wastewater, which, with adequate treatment (nanotechnology), could serve as an alternative water source for irrigation, thereby reducing reliance on fossil groundwater and/or surface water. This study assessed the management of water resources for irrigation in KSA. A multi-criteria approach was applied to evaluate the water suitability for domestic and irrigation, including complying with Saudi Standards and the potential salinity (PS) indices. The application of treated wastewater (TWW) irrigation has successfully maintained groundwater sustainability in the study area, as evidenced by increased groundwater levels up to 2 min some aquifers and the equilibrium for other deep aquifers. Although TWW contributes to crop productivity and soil fertility, long-term agricultural sustainability could be enhanced by improving effluent quality, regulating irrigation practices, implementing buffer zones, and monitoring shallow groundwater. Agricultural activities in KSA mixed with return flow irrigation water to deep groundwater increase total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), nitrate (NO 3 ), pesticides, and radionuclide element ( 40 K and 226 Ra) concentrations. In intensive agricultural areas (Tabuk, Al Jouf, Al-Qassim, Hail, Riyadh, Al Kharej, Wadi Dawaser, Jazen…), the nitrate levels exceeded 200 mg/l, 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K radioactivity is of the order of 35 Bq/l, 41 Bq/l and 730 Bq/l respectively. The best methodology plan should orient to improve the management practices and the protection of the water resources and to orient to the unconventional water sources (TWW, collection of drainwater, seawater…) and thirdly move towards rainwater (liquid and vapor) harvesting and the fourth direction is logical sharing between sectors and law enforcement. Water, soil and human health protection are the principal goals of this study.
The Use of Biochar Can Improve the Hydro-Physical Properties of Sandy Soils in Arid Regions Abdulrasoul Al-Omran, Arafat Alkhasha, Abdullah Obadi ACS Symposium Series, 2024 Coarse textured (sandy) soils (typical torrripsamments) dominate in arid regions such as Saudi Arabia, characterized by high infiltration, evaporation, hydraulic conductivity, and shallow water holding capacity. The use of soil amendments, such as biochar, is essential to mitigate the aforementioned constraints. Effective water management is essential for sustaining agriculture and food production in arid soils. Recently, biochar research has increased interest due to its potential to positively impact soil properties and serve as a long-term C sequester. Biochar, derived explicitly from date palm waste and Conocarpus, is being explored for its ability to counter the adverse effects of sandy soils. A series of soil column experiments were conducted to examine the impact of different rates of biochar application on evaporation, moisture distribution, infiltration, sorptivity (Sp), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), and water holding capacity (WHC). In addition, fieldwork has been conducted to study the effects of biochar on the production of cucumbers, sweet peppers, and tomatoes. Results showed that increasing biochar application reduced cumulative evaporation, and applying biochar enhanced the soil’s capacity to retain water for soils treated with different biochar rates. Water content increased in the treated layers with biochar, and water-holding capacity increased by increasing the biochar application rate. Biochar maintained good growth of different plants with a limited water supply in the arid area. It can be concluded that the capacity of biochar to mitigate water evaporation and enhance water retention of coarse-textured sandy soils can contribute to improved soil quality and productivity. This, in turn, may lead to decreased reliance on irrigation, making it beneficial for sustaining crop yields, particularly for crops facing water stress. This is especially crucial in arid and semiarid regions.
Evaluating Tomato Performance: A Novel Approach of Combining Full and Deficit Irrigation with Saline Water Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi, Akram K. Alshami, Ahmed El-Shafei, Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran, Arafat Alkhasha, Anwar A. Aly, Abdulaziz R. Alharbi Agronomy, 2024 The tomato is a vital component of agriculture and is the second-most important vegetable globally. Maintaining a high tomato production requires both water quality and quantity. Water-scarce regions like Saudi Arabia still lack an understanding of the impact of deficit irrigation and the use of a blend of saline and freshwater, especially their nuanced impact across growth stages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of six different irrigation amounts: full irrigation with 100% ETc (FI), regulated deficit irrigation with 60% ETc (DI), and deficit irrigation with 60% ETc, except for the initial (DI-int), development (DI-dev), mid-season (DI-mid), and late-season (DI-lat) stages. This was performed with three different water qualities: fresh (FW), saline (SW), and fresh-saline blend (1:1) (MW) water. FW and MW enhanced the growth, physiology, morphology, yield, and quality, while SW had the lowest values. DI reduced these parameters and lowered yields by 13.7%, significantly improving water use efficiency (WUE) by 44% and fruit quality. DI-mid or DI-lat slightly improved yields while remarkably decreasing WUE and fruit quality. DI outperforms deficit irrigation in all growth stages except one, and countries with limited freshwater resources can benefit from a mix of fresh and saline water with a 60% ETc deficit irrigation, resulting in greater water savings.
Responses of Tomato Crop and Water Productivity to Deficit Irrigation Strategies and Salinity Stress in Greenhouse Akram K. Alshami, Ahmed El-Shafei, Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran, Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi, Ibrahim Louki, Arafat Alkhasha Agronomy, 2023 Saudi Arabia faces water scarcity and inadequate sustainable sources, particularly in agriculture, necessitating efficient irrigation water management to improve productivity amidst rising demand. The study investigated the impact of irrigation levels and water salinity on tomato plants in greenhouses, covering four irrigation levels (100%, 80%, 60%, and 40% of ETc) and three water sources (FW (0.9 dS·m−1), SW (3.6 dS·m−1) and MW (2.25 dS·m−1)). Salinity impacts crop yield, physiological responses, and fruit quality. The photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and chlorophyll content decrease with MW and SW, negatively affecting morphological characteristics. For MW, it was recommended to apply 60% deficit irrigation with a yield of 98 kg·ha−1, and water productivity (WP) improved to 21.93 kg·m−3 compared to 13.65 kg·m−3 at full irrigation (FI). In SW, 80% irrigation was suggested, as there was no significant difference in yield compared to FI. For FW, 60% deficit irrigation produced the best water conservation (104.58 kg·ha−1 yield and 23.19 kg·m−3 WP), while FI produced the highest yield per unit area (123.48 kg·ha−1 yield and 16.51 kg·m−3 WP). Nonetheless, greater water and salinity stress was associated with increased fruit quality measures such as total acidity, vitamin C, and soluble solids. The results show that implementing deficit irrigation with salinity strategies in greenhouse tomatoes could improve crop adaptability, yield, and water productivity in the face of water scarcity and salinity variability.
Tomato Yield Responses to Deficit Irrigation and Partial Root Zone Drying Methods Using Biochar: A Greenhouse Experiment in a Loamy Sand Soil Using Fresh and Saline Irrigation Water Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi, Anwar A. Aly, Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran, Ibrahim I. Louki, Arafat Alkhasha Water Switzerland, 2023 The impacts of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and partial root zone drying irrigation (PRD) on water productivity (WP), crop water response factor (Ky), and yield of tomato crop (Solanum lycopersicum) were explored in this study using fresh (0.9 dS m−1) and saline (3.6 dS m−1) water under greenhouse conditions. RDI had four ETc (crop evapotranspiration) levels, i.e., 40, 60, 80, and 100%. PRD adopted 100% ETc for all treatments with changes in its application time (first, second, third, and fourth growth stages). Biochar pyrolyzed at 450–500 °C and added at rate of 4%. The results revealed that the Ky ranged between 0.21 and 0.37, indicating that tomato can tolerate a shortage of irrigation water. The highest value of WP (191 kg m−3) was found in 40% ETc using fresh water with biochar. The highest yield (20.0 kg m−2) was obtained with the application of 100% ETc with fresh water and biochar. Biochar application did not result in favorable yields with saline water due to its high salinity (7.8 dS m−1). The use of PRD in the fourth stage with biochar and fresh water led to the highest yield (20.6 kg m−2). Finally, this study recommends the application of biochar only when fresh irrigation water is available in adequate amounts.
Impact of Nanoparticles from Ball-Milled Date Palm Biochar on the Hydro-Physical Characteristics of Sandy Soils Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran, Mohammed M. Awad, Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi, Arafat Alkhasha Applied Sciences Switzerland, 2023 Water management in sandy soils (Typic Torripsamments) is crucial in sustaining agricultural production. The main goal of this research was to assess the impact of date palm biochar on the physical properties of sandy soil with different particle sizes of biochar (macro and nano). For nano-biochar preparation, stick chips were established into a tubular furnace with nitrogen air and heated to 400–450 °C, which was accompanied by a holding period of 4 h. The ball-milled biochar was inclined via ball grinding in a model number PQN2.110 planetary mill and within jars (500 mL), and the biochar-to-sphere mass ratio was 1:100. The sphere-milling apparatus was processed at a speed of 300 rpm for 13 h. Laboratory experiments were carried out at one rate—biochar 5%—and three depths (0.0–5, 5–10, and 10–15 cm). Applying macro-biochar reduced cumulative evaporation compared to the control by 4%, 24%, and 14% for the macro-biochar particles at soil depths. In contrast, biochar reduced cumulative evaporation compared to the control by 8%, 12%, and 4% for the nano-biochar particles at the soil depths tested. Adding biochar significantly raised the amount of retained water, with the highest level recorded at the 5–10 cm depth, while the variations were significantly lower between the macro and nano-biochar when in the direction of the soil surface (0–5 cm), indicating the significance of mixing biochar with the top 10 cm of the soil to increase its ability to reduce evaporation and increase the amount of water retained in the soils. It could be concluded that applying at the top of the coarse soil can positively impact soil hydro-physical properties and increase soil water availability to plants.
Calibration of Soil Moisture Sensors (ECH2O-5TE) in Hot and Saline Soils with New Empirical Equation Ibrahim I. Louki, Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran Agronomy, 2023 The use of soil moisture sensors is a practice applied to improve irrigation water management. ECH2O-5TE sensors are increasingly being used to estimate the volumetric water content (VWC). In view of the importance of the efficient use of these devices, six main factors affecting the accuracy of sensor measurements were studied: soil moisture levels, soil salinity, temperature, organic matter, soil texture, and bulk density. The study showed that the electrical conductivity of the soil and the temperature independently affect the measurements, while the influence of other factors interferes with that of salinity. This study found that the sensor measurements of the VWC were closest to the actual VWC at the soil ECe and temperatures of 2.42 dS m−1 and 25 °C, with root-mean-square errors (RMSE) of 0.003 and 0.004 m3 m−3. Otherwise, the measured VWC values of these sensor readouts significantly overestimated the actual VWC, with an increasing soil ECe and/or producing temperatures higher than the stated values, and vice versa. Given the importance of these sensors for obtaining accurate measurements for water management, a simplified empirical equation was derived using the data collected from a wide range of measurements to correct the influences of electrical conductivity and temperature on the measurement accuracy of the sensors, while considering the influence of the soil’s texture. Thus, the following equation was proposed: ϴva = θvsaECe2+bECe+c+dT2+eT+f−1. The results concerning the measurement of different VWC levels via these sensors and the proposed L&O correction equation were compared with the corresponding actual VWC values determined by gravimetric methods. It was found that this empirical equation reduced the differences in the RMSE between the sensor readings for the VWC and the actual VWC from 0.072 and 0.252 to 0.030 and 0.030 m3 m−3 for 1 and 5 dS m−1, respectively, with respect to the EC’s influence at 25 °C and reduced the RMSE from 0.053 and 0.098 to 0.007 and 0.011 at 3 and 50 °C, respectively, regarding the effect of the temperature at EC 2.42 dS m−1 at different levels of the actual VWC values.
Deficit Irrigation and Partial Root-Zone Drying Irrigation System in Arid Area Abdulrasoul M. Al-Omran, Ibrahim Louki, Arafat Alkhasha Handbook of Irrigation Hydrology and Management Irrigation Case Studies, 2023 Arid area is impoverished by scarcity of water resources and irrigation water management is considered as the most important strategy to investigate in such areas. There is an urgent need for methods and practices that can reduce the excessive amount of water applied in irrigation without decline in productivity. Deficit irrigation (DI) and partial root-zone drying system (PRD) are promising strategies that involve irrigating the root zone with less water than the maximum evapotranspiration without loss in yield. The main aim of this chapter is to investigate the impact of DI and PRD on different crops such as cucumber, tomato, potato and sweet pepper planted in greenhouse and open field, in addition to date palm. The irrigation treatments were differ from 40%to 120% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc). The crop water production function (CWPF) clearly showed a linear relationship between applied water (AW) and the yield, and as the level of water increases, the increase in the yield decreases. The shape of CWPF has a very important implication for irrigation water management such as introducing the DI and/or PRD programs. The data showed that the cucumber, tomato and potato could tolerate shortage of water during the middle-season growth stage. The sweet pepper crop was sensitive to the DI. The crop response factor (K y) values of the cucumber ranged between 0.96 and 1.02. However, the crop water productivity (CWP) values increased when the water amount decreased. Finally, the results confirmed that the highest values of CWP were found under high stress treatments of 40% ETc, but the overall productivity decreased.
Irrigation water conservation in Saudi Arabia Abdulrasoul M. Al‐Omran, Arafat Al‐Khasha, Saeid Eslamian Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation Case Studies and Application Examples, 2021
Grafting affects tomato growth, productivity, and water use efficiency under different water regimes Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 2018
Salinity and deficit irrigation influence tomato growth, yield and water use efficiency at different developmental stages International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2015
Variable rate application technology for optimizing alfalfa production in arid climate International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2015
Delineation of management zones and response of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) to irrigation and nutrient levels in Saudi Arabia International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2014
Impact of deficit irrigation on soil salinity and cucumber yield under greenhouse condition in an arid environment Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 2013
Management of irrigation water salinity in greenhouse tomato production under calcareous sandy soil and drip irrigation Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 2012
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