Shamim Gul - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Shamim Gul

Applied Ecology and Environmental Research

Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2016

Pedobiologia, 2021

Abstract Many laboratory and mesocosm studies have demonstrated that earthworms influence nitroge... more Abstract Many laboratory and mesocosm studies have demonstrated that earthworms influence nitrogen (N) cycling reactions that produce nitrous oxide (N2O) in well-aerated soils, but whether earthworms can stimulate N2O fluxes in realistic field conditions remains to be determined. We conducted two field experiments in southern Quebec in perennial forage agroecosystems for 2 yr and agriculture riparian buffers for 1 yr to compare N2O fluxes from enclosures with ambient and artificially elevated earthworm populations. Despite a short-term ( 0.05) in mean N2O flux from enclosures in either field experiment. The elevated earthworm populations declined and stabilized at the same level as the ambient earthworm populations within 1–2 yr after the field experiments began. The homeostatic regulation of earthworm populations under field conditions could be related to inter- and intra-specific competition and limits to the food supply and habitat preferred by earthworms. Mean N2O fluxes in the perennial forage fields were negatively correlated with soil moisture, but not related to earthworm populations. In the riparian buffers, the average N2O flux was negatively correlated with vegetation cover, and positively correlated with soil moisture and the size of the earthworm population at the end of the study. Our results suggest that the effects of earthworm addition on N2O emissions measured from laboratory studies can not necessarily be extrapolated to field settings. Earthworm field experiments that continue in the longer-term and in a variety of ecosystems should provide better understanding of the seasonal and environmental variability of earthworm activity and N2O balance under field conditions.

This pot-based study investigated the influence of co-composted wood-derived biochar on lettuce g... more This pot-based study investigated the influence of co-composted wood-derived biochar on lettuce growth performance under salinity and drought stress conditions. Biochar of two particle sizes; > 2 mm and < 1 mm were co-composted with the mixture (1:1 ratio of dry weight) of cow and poultry manures. Co-composted biochars were applied at 5% and 7% rates in soil. Control treatments included the amendment of mixture of biochar with manure in soil. Pots were subjected to slight drought (48-55% water filled pore space (WFPS) of soil) and non-drought conditions (60% WFPS) and under 0 and 1.3 dS m-1 salinity. Results revealed that plants growth performance was significantly better under treatments of co-composted biochar and no salt stress conditions, than when mixture of biochar and manure was applied to soil as non-composted fertilizer. Under no stress condition, small particle-sized co-composted biochar increased root biomass by 786.2% than the large particle-sized co-composted bioc...

Resumen. Se evaluó el efecto del fuego sobre el crecimiento y valor nutritivo del híbrido de Sacc... more Resumen. Se evaluó el efecto del fuego sobre el crecimiento y valor nutritivo del híbrido de Saccharum griffithii Munro ex Boissravennae (Linn.) Murr., una gramínea perenne de baja palatabilidad en la región semiárida de las altas montañas de Balochistan, Pakistan, durante 2008 y 2009. Se aplicaron tratamientos de fuego prescripto en Febrero 2008 y 2009 en el estado de reposo de la vegetación. Se compararon diferentes parámetros con parcelas control (no quemadas): parámetros de crecimiento (altura de macollas, número de macollas/planta), producción de forraje (fresco, seco) y valor nutritivo (proteína cruda, cenizas). El fuego incrementó el número de macollas, y la producción de forraje fresco y seco en ambos años. El fuego también aumentó los contenidos de proteína cruda. El fuego prescripto en el estado de reposo de la vegetación se puede usar como una herramienta para mejorar la calidad y cantidad de forraje de la especie de gramínea híbrido menos preferida Saccharum griffithii M...

Journal of Mountain Science

Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. T... more Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants. The present study was conducted in Chakwal, an important tract of the Pothwar Plateau, which sustains herds of small domestic and nomadic ruminants. Urbanization and uncontrolled grazing practices have reduced rangeland productivity and increased soil erosion and resulted in poor land conditions. This study assessed the influence of two years of rangeland protection on aboveground vegetation biomass and the chemical composition of plants and aimed to determine the influence of seasonal grazing on the live-weight gain of small ewes. Using the line intercept method, vegetation data from protected and unprotected plots in 2015 and 2016 were collected at two sites, Dhulli and Begal. Vegetation cover was assessed from images using VegMeasure. Results showed that protected study sites displayed higher vegetation biomass (834 and 690 kg ha-1) compared to the unprotected study site (477 and 326 kg ha-1) during April and August of both years. In the seasonal grazing trial, the experimental ewes that grazed on protected rangelands showed higher live-weight gain (33–63 g day-1) compared to live weight of ewes (17–21 g day-1) that grazed on unprotected rangelands during the experimental period of 127 days at both sites. The results suggest that the Chakwal rangeland has tremendous potential to improve vegetation productivity but modern livestock management and seasonal grazing practices are needed to improve carrying capacity and livestock productivity.

Journal of Mountain Science, 2020

Hazarganji Chiltan National Park in Balochistan, Pakistan was established in 1980 and the protect... more Hazarganji Chiltan National Park in Balochistan, Pakistan was established in 1980 and the protected area was further extended in 1998. Large area of this mountain is still open for unmanaged human disturbances such as collection of wood for fuel purpose and livestock grazing. Removal of vegetation of rangelands has a significant negative impact on soil organic matter (SOM). This research evaluates litter decomposition in three sites of Hazarganji Chiltan mountain with varying history of human disturbances (unprotected site, young protected site and old protected site). Twigs of Pistacia khinjuk with approximately equal weight and length were placed in litter bags of mesh size 2 mm and were buried in 0-5 cm depth in three sites in January. Half of the twigs of each site received rain simulation in April, August, October, November and January while the other half of the twigs were subjected under natural conditions for 15 months. Twigs from each plot of each treatment of each site wer...

American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 2021

Balochistan province of Pakistan has more than 50% area that comes under arid climatic conditions... more Balochistan province of Pakistan has more than 50% area that comes under arid climatic conditions of dry summer and cold winters. Under these conditions different arid crops including saffron has great potential to introduce and scale-up. Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) cultivation on test trials at PARC-BARDC, Quetta, Balochistan and in some of those areas by local farmers was found to be successful experience. As biochar is well-known to have influenced positively on the crop yield, this study evaluated the influence of the amendment of wood-derived biochar alone or with combination of cow manure compost in 1:1 ratio on the yield of saffron under field conditions of arid region of this province with cold winters and dry summers. The treatments were amendment of biochar at 0.34 t ha-1 and 0.68 t ha-1 rates and amendment of biochar-compost mixture at 1.37 t ha-1 and 2.7 t ha-1 rates. In this experiment, the saffron corms of uniform size (2-2.5 cm in diameter) were used. There were five ...

Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 2021

Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Soil amended with biochar is expected to produce less nitrous oxide (N2O), although this may depe... more Soil amended with biochar is expected to produce less nitrous oxide (N2O), although this may depend on nitrate (NO3-N) availability. Our objective was to determine how pine wood biochar, slow pyrolyzed at 500 °C, affects N2O production in soil having different denitrification potentials with variable NO3-N concentrations under controlled laboratory conditions. Sandy loam surface soils (0–30 cm, pH 5.7) and sandy clay loam subsurface soils (40–60 cm, pH 5.6) were amended with four biochar rates (0, 10, 20, and 30 g·kg−1), two nitrogen fertilizer rates (0 and 100 mg·kg−1 NO3-N) and two acetylene levels (0% and 10% headspace), arranged as a full factorial. Soil moisture content was adjusted to 80% water-filled pore space, and flasks were incubated at 20 °C for 30 h. Headspace gas was collected from each flask at 25, 26, 28, and 30 h. There was a significant reduction in N2O production with an increasing rate of biochar in the surface soil but not in the subsurface soil. On average, les...

Cadmium (Cd+2) is a potentially toxic element that inhibits growth and development of several spe... more Cadmium (Cd+2) is a potentially toxic element that inhibits growth and development of several species of plants along with Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn which is an essential medicinal plant belonging to family Asteraceae. The exogenous application with 0.25µM Salicylic acid (SA) and 10µM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to ameliorate harmful effects of cadmium (500 µM) on milk thistle were studied that were grown at two different ecological zones of Balochistan province of Pakistan i.e. Quetta (Qta) and Turbat (Tbt). The design of experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. Application of SA and H2O2, priming (P), Foliar spray (FS) and combinational treatments (P+FS) were highly helpful in alleviating the negative role of cadmium toxicity. The essential nutrients i.e. nitrate (NO3-), calcium (Ca2+) and potassium (K) were affected by Cd+2 induced toxicity however, the substantial role of SA and H2O2 widely helped to reduce the cadmium stress and boosted up t...

American Journal of Environmental Protection

Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management

Present study analysed the influence of slow-pyrolyzed wood-derived biochar on growth performance... more Present study analysed the influence of slow-pyrolyzed wood-derived biochar on growth performance and heavy metal accumulation in the leaves of spinach grown under groundwater and wastewater irrigation. Biochar was applied in soil as 5% (~30 t·ha−1) and 10% (~60 t·ha−1) amendment. According to results, plant biomass was significantly higher under wastewater than groundwater irrigation. Biochar amendment increased significantly the aboveground plant biomass and root biomass and promoted water use efficiency (WUE). Under groundwater irrigation, biochar amendment at 10% application rate, increased the leaf area index (P < 0.05), while amendment of biochar at all application rates significantly reduced leaf area index under wastewater irrigation (P < 0.05). Application of biochar also reduced accumulation of rhizosphere soil around roots under wastewater irrigation, indicating less exudate production in the rhizosphere of plants. Biochar significantly reduced the concentration of ...

Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

ABSTRACT Present study evaluated the influence of slow-pyrolyzed wood-derived and cow manure-deri... more ABSTRACT Present study evaluated the influence of slow-pyrolyzed wood-derived and cow manure-derived biochars on growth performance (i.e., yield production, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE)) of Pisum sativum under groundwater and municipal wastewater irrigation. Biochars were applied at 5, 10, and 15 t ha−1 rates for 2 years. The amendment of biochars did not enhance yield during first year under both irrigation types; rather, small-particle-sized (<0.65 mm) wood-derived biochar reduced significantly yield at higher application rates under groundwater irrigation. During second year, amendment of biochars significantly increased the yield especially at higher application rates under groundwater irrigation while no influence of biochars was observed for wastewater irrigation treatment. The yield was significantly lower under wastewater irrigation for all treatments as compared to first year. The NUE and PUE of pods and stover were not different during first year and second year under both irrigation treatments except for the small-particle-sized wood-derived biochar applied at 10 and 15 t ha−1, which tended to reduce significantly the NUE and PUE of pods and stover under groundwater irrigation during first year of cropping. The NUE and PUE were significantly lower during following year under wastewater irrigation. Our results suggest that amendment of biochars had positive influence on the growth of P. sativum under groundwater irrigation during second year of cropping while these amendments had no influence under wastewater irrigation.

Sarhad Journal of Agriculture

Cogent Food & Agriculture