Using mycorrhizal inoculum in sustainable agriculture attracted immense attention in recent years for improving plant growth, and water uptake. A plastic pot experiment was carried out at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Sulaimani, during June to Juley 2020 to study the effect of different mycorrhizal inoculum (Glomus mosseae, Glomus geosporum and a commercial inoculum INOQ Agri) on growth responses and water use efficiency (WUE) of two maize varieties (GLORIA and SY Miami). The root colonization percentage for GLORIA and SY Miami were (5, 83.33, 88.33, 88.33) % (3.33, 86.67, 78.33, 85) % for control, G. mosseae, G. geosporum, and INOQ Agri, respectively. Inoculated plants showed significantly better growth and water use efficiency compared to non-mycorrhizal plants. The best plant heights were in INGQ Agri plants (91.33, 90.67) cm in both GLORIA and SY Miami respectively. Highest shoot biomass (49.83, 44.50) g pot-1 and root biomass (16.17, 15.67) g pot-1 were found in INGQ Agri inoculant in both GLORIA and SY Miami respectively. The heights concentration of N,P and K were in INOQ Agri (1.53%, 0.61% and 0.14%) for GLORIA and (1.48%, 0.56% and 0.14%) for SY Miami respectively, Mycorrhizal inoculation also improved (WUE) in maize plants the average increasing percentage were (34.92%, 19.3%) for GLORIA and SY Miami cultivars respectively.

Earth’s climate changes rapidly due to the increases in human demands and rapid economic growth. These changes will affect the entire biosphere, mostly in negative ways. Predicting future changes will put us in a better position to minimize their catastrophic effects and to understand how humans can cope with the new changes beforehand. In this research, previous global climate data set observations from 1961-1990 have been used to predict the future climate change scenario for 2010-2039. The data were processed with Idrisi Andes software and the final Köppen-Geiger map was created with ArcGIS software. Based on Köppen climate classification, it was found that areas of Equator, Arid Steppes, and Snow will decrease by 3.9 %, 2.96%, and 0.09%, respectively. While the areas of Warm Temperature and Dessert will increase by 4.5% and 0.75%, respectively. The results of this study provide useful information on future climate Köppen-Geiger maps and areas that will most likely be affected by climate change in the following decades

Self-purification capacity of a river is a significant indicator for the river health and it is in great importance in polluted water. Tanjero River lies southwest of Sulaimani city formed by linking two streams (Qiliasan and Kani-Ban streams) along its path the sewage of wastewater is discharged into the river that causes serious pollution and threatens the quality of water. Samples of water were taken from six stations (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6) along the Tanjero river. The data obtained from sample locations include velocity, depth, river discharge, water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO) and BOD. The De-oxygenation coefficient (k1) and re-oxygenation coefficient (K2) are then used to estimate the deficit value of predicted oxygen using the Streeter Phelps equation. The maximum de-oxygenation rate (K1) and reaeration (K2) rate (8.259541 day−1) and (15.22917day−1) were recorded in site (4) respectively. The fair ratio (f) or self-purification factor, for the Tanjero river was determined. The maximum fair ratio (f) value of (2.219) was recorded at site (2). The average fair ratio (f) was found to be (1.507) which classifies the river into large streams of low to normal velocities. This study revealed that using Streeter-Phelps method the natural self-purification occurred along the river as a result of continuous increasing of DO value and decreasing BOD value.

Many studies were reported the impact of manure addition in enhancing soil fertility. However, animal manures might have different effects on calcareous soils. The effect of two different animal manure on carbon mineralisation and macronutrient availability in calcareous soils was studied. Different rates of poultry manure (PM5= 5 g kg-1, and PM10= 10 g kg-1 soil), cattle manure (CM5= 5 g kg-1 and CM10= 10 g kg-1 soil), and an equal mixture of the two animal manures (PCM5= 5 g kg-1, and PCM10= 10 g kg-1 soil) was investigated for 90 days. Animal manures increased CO2–C respiration rate and cumulative CO2-C in soils compared to untreated soils, and the highest results were observed in treatments that received 10 g kg-1 soil manure (PM10, PCM10 and CM10). The addition of animal manures increased available N, P, and K compared to untreated soils. Furthermore, treatments that received poultry manure alone (PM5, PM10) or in combination with cattle manure (PCM5, PCM10) contained a greater amount of available nutrients (N, P and K) when compared to soils treated with cattle manure at the same addition rate. Overall, the addition of poultry and cattle manures to calcareous soil has positive effects on macronutrient availability and carbon mineralisation.

Bacterial activity, mainly Pseudomonas spp. plays a vital role in the fruiting process of white button mushroom, hence a rapid procedure to identify these bacteria is crucial. In the current study, the validity of commercial identification system, Analytical profile index API 20E to identify Pseudomonas isolates from mushroom casing soil were assessed. Using API strips fifty bacterial isolates from a selective medium (King B medium) were examined, all isolates were belonged to the genus Pseudomonas according to API 20E identification systems. However, only 74% of Pseudomonas bacteria were identified to species level. The molecular identification using 16S rRNA gene was used as a reference tool to identify bacteria at the species level. The results show that the accuracy of the system to classify florescent Pseudomonas to species level was 60%. This was species dependant, and the system accuracy were 100%, 87.5%, 81.3% and 63% in identifying P. aeruginosa, P. putida, P. fluorescens and P. tolaasii respectively. Our finding indicates that although the classification of the Pseudomonas genus with API 20E system is useful, but it is not enough to distinguish these bacteria to species level, genomic studies are necessary to confirm the exact taxonomic position of Pseudomonas spp.

The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro and in vivo actions of isolated Pseudomonas spp. from casing soil on the hyphal growth and yield of Agaricus bisporus. It was found that only Pseudomonas putida increased the hyphae extension rate and also mushroom yield up to 26.6% when compared to the non-inoculated control. Pseudomonas tolaasii markedly inhibited growth, lysis of A. bisporus mycelium, and there were also significant reduction in mushroom yield (-72.5%). Mycelial growth was also inhibited by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but the inhibition only occurred when the fungus hypha contact with the bacterial colony, this inhibition reduced the mushroom yield by 70.5%. Furthermore, Pseudomonas fluorescens had no statistically positive effects on mushroom mycelium growth and yield compared to control treatments. Until now, most research and applications of Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been conducted with animal disease. Findings of this research showed that this bacterium inhibits the mushroom hyphal growth and significantly reduces the harvested mushroom.

Soil is a dynamic system in which continues interaction takes place between soil minerals, organic matter and living organisms that influences the soil physico-chemical and biological properties. In present investigation soil microbial community (bacteria and fungi) and soil chemical properties and their relation with soil texture has been addressed. Soil samples with a range of texture were collected from nine sites. Soil chemical characteristics (e.g., pH, organic matter (OM), total soil nitrogen (TN) that might influence microbial population were quantified for each site. The finding demonstrate that bacterial population was significantly affected by particle size, yielding higher bacterial population in finer soil texture, furthermore bacterial population strongly correlated with clay concentration (r = 0.90), pH(r = -0.85), OM (r=0.80), SOC (r = 0.79), TN (r= 0.81) and C:N ratio (r=-0.92). Fungal propagules did not show any significant differences in any soil texture with respect to sites. Soil texture significantly (p<0.05) affected pH, organic matter, organic carbon, water contents, total nitrogen and C:N ratio; and they were strongly correlated with clay concentration. Increasing bacterial population in finer soil likely due to protective microhabitat, the increased rate of organic matter and total nitrogen in finer texture, suggesting that the vicinity between microbes, organic matter, and clay is required for the survival and activity of microbes, in which organic matter and clay particles provide microhabitat, substrates and nutrients.

Soil texture plays a key role in carbon storage and strongly influences nutrient retention and availability. The objective of this study was to 1) determine the effects of soil texture on soil chemical compositions and abundance of microbial communities in soils collected from nine different localities of Sulaimani governorate, 2) the correlation between mineralization of carbon and tested parameters. After analysis, soils were classified into six textural classes (sandy loam, loamy sand, silty loam, silty clay loam, clay loam and loam) which are of significant (p≤0.01) effects on concentration of most soluble ions (Ca+2, K+, HCO-3, Cl- and SO4=), and other soil chemicals (PO-4, CaCO3, organic matter and total nitrogen contents); as well as, the distribution of soil bacterial population. Results of carbon mineralization, using CO2 respiration method under laboratory conditions indicate that rates of CO2 in fine soil textures (viz: clay loam, loam and silty clay loam), are significantly (p≤0.01) higher than coarser soil textures (silty loam, loamy sand and sandy loam). Meanwhile, mineralization rates showed a significant positive correlation with the amount of soil organic matter, and total nitrogen content (r=0.62, r=0.61), respectively. In conclusion, this study indicates that (i) the capacity of soils to preserve soil organic matter and total nitrogen in clay and silt sized particles is greater than sandy one, (ii) abiotic factors such as soil texture; chemical components had a marked influence on the structure and activity of microbial population and mineralization of carbon.