Abstract Background and objectives: Soil salinization is known as one of the most important reasons for soil degradation in arid and semi-arid regions, which leads to a decrease in the stability of the soil, soil fertility, and plant production, and increased dust emission. However, the use of soil microorganisms as soil inoculants improves the quantitative and qualitative components of the soil. As well as, their role in soil erosion controlling and soil management has been approved, but their success in creating biocrusts in soils with high salinity has not been considered. Therefore, this study was planned to evaluate the cyanobacteria inoculum capability for biocrust formation in the high salinity soils of the dried-up beds of Lake Urmia at laboratory conditions. Materials and methods: In November 2022, the soil samples were randomly taken from 10 cm above the ground in the Seporghan area, west of Lake Urmia, and transported to the laboratory of the Faculty of Natural Resources of Urmia University and kept at 4 °C. Then, the experiment trays with dimensions of 5x10x15 cm were filled with saline soil (EC= 27 dS m-1); which was taken from the dried-up beds of the west of Lake Urmia. Afterward, 225 mg of the dominant and native cyanobacteria (Nostoc sp. and Oscillatoria sp.) were identified, extracted, purified, and proliferated from the study was water-inoculated uniformly on the soil surface of each tray (or any experimental unit with an area of 0.15 m2) with three replications. On the other hand, for control treatment, the distilled water (without cyanobacteria biomass) was sprayed on the soil. After 120 days, the important indicators of the soil biocrust, such as the chlorophyll-a content, polysaccharide concentration, and activity indicators of L and a components were measured to evaluate the cyanobacteria biocrusting capability. Statistical analysis of data was done in SPSS 23 software. Results: The results showed that the inoculation of cyanobacteria affected the biocrust development in a high saline soil; in such a way that the cyanobacteria led to a 53.92% increase in soil chlorophyll-a compared to the control treatment. The L and a in the inoculated treatment also decreased by 21.80% and increased by 73.35%, respectively, in compared to the control, these results show the change in soil surface color to darkening and green due to the increases of cyanobacteria biomass. The L and a values confirmed the growth and activity of cyanobacteria in saline soils. Conclusion: Finally, we found that cyanobacteria can grow in high-saline soils, and it is possible to propose the inoculation of cyanobacteria as a bio-based strategy. This approach is known in line with the soil conservation goals in the biocrust formation of saline soils to prevent the spread of erosion.
Mumzaei, A., Kheirfam, H., & Sadeghi, S. H. (2024). The possibility of establishment of cyanobacterial biocrusts in the saline soil of Lake Urmia bed. Journal of Water and Soil Conservation, 31(1), 113-131. doi: 10.22069/jwsc.2024.22036.3703
MLA
Azam Mumzaei; Hossein Kheirfam; Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi. "The possibility of establishment of cyanobacterial biocrusts in the saline soil of Lake Urmia bed". Journal of Water and Soil Conservation, 31, 1, 2024, 113-131. doi: 10.22069/jwsc.2024.22036.3703
HARVARD
Mumzaei, A., Kheirfam, H., Sadeghi, S. H. (2024). 'The possibility of establishment of cyanobacterial biocrusts in the saline soil of Lake Urmia bed', Journal of Water and Soil Conservation, 31(1), pp. 113-131. doi: 10.22069/jwsc.2024.22036.3703
VANCOUVER
Mumzaei, A., Kheirfam, H., Sadeghi, S. H. The possibility of establishment of cyanobacterial biocrusts in the saline soil of Lake Urmia bed. Journal of Water and Soil Conservation, 2024; 31(1): 113-131. doi: 10.22069/jwsc.2024.22036.3703
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