Zainulabdeen Khalaf Hashim
60075126800
Publications - 9
Utilizing Different Crop Rotation Systems for Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability: A Review
Publication Name: Agronomy
Publication Date: 2025-08-01
Volume: 15
Issue: 8
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Monoculture involves growing the same crop on the same land over at least two crop cycles. Continuous monoculture can increase the population density of pests and pathogens over time, thereby reducing agricultural yields and increasing dependence on chemical inputs. Crop rotation is an agricultural practice that involves systematically and sequentially planting different crops in the same field over multiple growing seasons. This review explores the advantages of crop rotation and its contribution to promoting sustainable farming practices, such as legume integration and cover cropping. It is based on a thematic literature review of peer-reviewed studies published between 1984 and 2025. We found that crop rotation can significantly improve soil structure and organic matter content and enhance nutrient cycling. Furthermore, soil organic carbon increased by up to 18% when legumes were included in rotations compared to monoculture systems in Europe, while also mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing carbon sequestration, and decreasing nutrient leaching and pesticide runoff. Farmers can adopt several strategies to optimise crop rotation benefits, such as diversification of various crops, legume integration, cultivation of cover crops, and rotational grazing. These practices ensure agricultural sustainability and food security and support climate resilience.
Open Access: Yes
Hybrid Data-Fusion Model for Solar-Powered Smart Irrigation with Predictive Decision-Making
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2025-01-01
Volume: 121
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 139-144
Description:
The proposed system addresses inefficient water use in agriculture by integrating an Arduino microcontroller, sensors, and data analysis. It irrigates only when needed, using weather forecasts and soil moisture sensors to optimize water delivery. The system conserves water, improves irrigation and resource management, enhances crop productivity, and reduces environmental impact. It features a user-friendly interface for remote monitoring and control and uses a Weather Forecast API to obtain real-time and forecast data from Open Weather via the REST protocol, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rain probability. This weather data is combined with soil moisture sensor readings in a Hybrid Fusion Algorithm, which checks both current and predicted conditions to decide when to irrigate. For instance, if the soil is dry but rain is likely, the system delays irrigation to save water. If the soil is dry and no rain is expected, irrigation starts automatically. By combining soil and weather data, the system can make more informed and sustainable decisions. In tests, this approach reduced water use by 27 % and cut unnecessary operations by 18 % compared to traditional systems. The system operates on solar energy, ensuring a sustainable and self-sufficient solution. This system represents an innovative advancement in agricultural technology, supporting more efficient and sustainable farming practices.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET25121024
Preliminary Study on Synergistic Effects of Humic Acid and Seaweed Extract on Cereal Crop Yield and Competitiveness with Wild Weed Beets (Beta vulgaris L.)
Publication Name: Plants
Publication Date: 2025-12-01
Volume: 14
Issue: 24
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Crop–weed competition markedly reduces cereal yield. Integrative weed management approaches, involving the use of humic acid (HA) and seaweed extract (SWE), have gained attention as herbicide efficacy declines and environmental concerns grow. However, potential synergistic effects between HA and SWE have not yet been investigated. We evaluated the effects of HA, SWE, and their combination (HA+SWE) on the growth, yield, and competitive ability of cereals against wild weed beets (Beta vulgaris L.). A single-season field experiment was conducted using a split-plot design within a randomised complete block to assess the effects of treatment amendments on wheat, barley, and oats. The results showed that HA and HA+SWE organic amendments consistently improved grain yield and biomass across crop species. SWE responses varied across species, indicating species-dependent sensitivity. In addition, HA enhanced barley weed suppression, highlighting its dual roles in improving crop vigour and reducing weed proliferation. In contrast, SWE modestly increased spike length in oats, emphasising its effect on crop growth characteristics. Overall, these preliminary findings support targeted biostimulant use to enhance cereal yield and integrate weed management into sustainable cropping systems.
Open Access: Yes
Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agricultural Crops and Management Practices: The Impact of the Integrated Crop Emission Mitigation Framework on Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Publication Name: Agronomy
Publication Date: 2026-01-01
Volume: 16
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural crops remain a critical challenge for climate change mitigation. This review synthesizes evidence on cropland management interventions and global N2 O mitigation potential. Agricultural practices such as cover cropping, agroforestry, reduced tillage, and diversification show promise in reducing CO2 , CH4 , and N2 O emissions, yet uncertainties in measurement, verification, and socio-economic adoption persist. This review highlights that biochar application reduces N2 O emissions by 16.2% (95% CI: 9.8–22.6%) in temperate systems, demonstrating greater consistency compared to no-till agriculture, which shows higher variability (11% reduction, 95% CI: −19% to +1%). Legume-based crop rotations reduce N2 O emissions by up to 39% through improved nitrogen efficiency and increase soil organic carbon by up to 18%. However, reductions in synthetic fertilizer use (65% lower in legume vs. cereal systems) can be offset by the effects of biological nitrogen fixation. Optimized nitrogen fertilization, when combined with enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, can reduce N2 O emissions by 55–64%. Complementing this, global-scale analysis underscores the dominant role of optimized nitrogen fertilization in curbing N2 O emissions while sustaining yields. To bridge gaps between practice-level interventions and global emission dynamics, this paper introduces the ICEMF, a novel approach combining field-based management strategies with spatially explicit emission modeling. Realistic implementation currently achieves 25–35% of technical potential, but bundled interventions combining financial incentives, training, and institutional support can increase adoption to 40–60%, demonstrating ICEMF’s value through integrated, context-adapted approaches. Only peer-reviewed articles published in English between 1997 and 2025 were selected to ensure recent and reliable findings. This review highlights knowledge gaps, evaluates policy and technical trade-offs, and proposes ICEMF as a pathway toward scalable and adaptive mitigation strategies in agriculture.
Open Access: Yes
Performance of Low-Cost Air Temperature Sensors and Applied Calibration Techniques—A Systematic Review
Publication Name: Atmosphere
Publication Date: 2025-07-01
Volume: 16
Issue: 7
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Low-cost air temperature sensors are an emerging theme in environmental monitoring. These sensors offer the advantage of making microclimate monitoring feasible due to their affordability. However, they are limited by the quality of the data they provide; in many cases, they have been reported to have presented errors in the sensor readings. These errors have been shown to improve after calibration was applied. The lack of a comprehensive understanding of the available calibration techniques, models, and sensor types has led to studies presenting heterogeneity in models and techniques alongside different performance metrics. To address this gap, this study conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines, reviewing studies from 2015 to 2024 across the databases Web of Science and Scopus, alongside the search engine Google Scholar. The aim was to identify the calibration techniques and models, the commercially available low-cost air temperature sensors used, the performance metrics utilised, and the calibration settings. The findings presented three main categories of calibration models utilised in the collected studies: linear, polynomial, and machine learning. Twenty-two commercially available low-cost sensors were identified, with the DHT22 sensor being the most utilised. Indoor settings were identified as the most preferred for conducting calibrations. Key challenges included limitations in reported results for calibration by the studies, the use of different performance metrics across studies, insufficient studies conducting calibration, and the diversity in sensor types utilised.
Open Access: Yes
Unveiling the Role of Edaphic Microalgae in Soil Carbon Sequestration: Potential for Agricultural Inoculants in Climate Change Mitigation
Publication Name: Agriculture Switzerland
Publication Date: 2024-11-01
Volume: 14
Issue: 11
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Agricultural soil has great potential to address climate change issues, particularly the rise in atmospheric CO2 levels. It offers effective remedies, such as increasing soil carbon content while lowering atmospheric carbon levels. The growing interest in inoculating soil with live microorganisms aims to enhance agricultural land carbon storage and sequestration capacity, modify degraded soil ecosystems, and sustain yields with fewer synthetic inputs. Agriculture has the potential to use soil microalgae as inoculants. However, the significance of these microorganisms in soil carbon sequestration and soil carbon stabilization under field conditions has yet to be fully understood. Large-scale commercial agriculture has focused on the development and use of inoculation products that promote plant growth, with a particular emphasis on enhancing yield attributes. Gaining more profound insights into soil microalgae’s role in soil carbon cycling is necessary to develop products that effectively support soil carbon sequestration and retention. This review comprehensively explores the direct and indirect mechanisms through which soil microalgae contribute to soil carbon sequestration, highlighting their potential as microbial inoculants in agricultural settings. This study underlines the need for more research to be conducted on microalgae inoculation into agricultural soil systems aimed at mitigating carbon emissions in the near future.
Open Access: Yes
Effects of Various Herbicide Types and Doses, Tillage Systems, and Nitrogen Rates on CO2 Emissions from Agricultural Land: A Literature Review
Publication Name: Agriculture Switzerland
Publication Date: 2024-10-01
Volume: 14
Issue: 10
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Although herbicides are essential for global agriculture and controlling weeds, they impact soil microbial communities and CO2 emissions. However, the effects of herbicides, tillage systems, and nitrogen fertilisation on CO2 emissions under different environmental conditions are poorly understood. This review explores how various agricultural practices and inputs affect CO2 emissions and addresses the impact of pest-management strategies, tillage systems, and nitrogen fertiliser usage on CO2 emissions using multiple databases. Key findings indicate that both increased and decreased tendencies in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were observed, depending on the herbicide type, dose, soil properties, and application methods. Several studies reported a positive correlation between CO2 emissions and increased agricultural production. Combining herbicides with other methods effectively controls emissions with minimal chemical inputs. Conservation practices like no-tillage were more effective than conventional tillage in mitigating carbon emissions. Integrated pest management, conservation tillage, and nitrogen fertiliser rate optimisation were shown to reduce herbicide use and soil greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilisers are similarly important; depending on the dosage, they may support yield or harm the soil. Fertiliser benefits are contingent on appropriate management practices for specific soil and field conditions. This review highlights the significance of adaptable management strategies that consider local environmental conditions and can guide future studies and inform policies to promote sustainable agriculture practices worldwide.
Open Access: Yes
Nano-fertilizer and growth regulator technological applications on improving productivity, and quality of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum l.)
Publication Name: Basrah Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Publication Date: 2025-12-31
Volume: 38
Issue: 2
Page Range: 205-218
Description:
A field experiment was conducted at the Agroploligon Research Institute, Baribino, during 2023–2024 to evaluate the effects of foliar nano-fertilizer Terrasay and growth regulator Centrino on wheat performance. The study followed a split-plot randomized complete block design with three replications. Growth regulator levels were 0, 1.0, 1.25, and 1.5 L ha⁻¹, while Terrasay rates were 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 L ha⁻¹. Significant interactions (p ≤ 0.05) between treatments were observed for phenology, yield, and quality traits. Higher regulator rates accelerated flowering and increased fertile tillers, while combined applications enhanced spike characteristics, thousand-grain weight (TGW), and yield components. The combinations F2 × GR2 and F3 × GR3 produced superior spike length, spikelet number, and TGW. Maximum grain yield in 2024 was achieved with F2 × GR2 (4457.4 kg ha⁻¹), significantly exceeding the control. Biological yield also increased markedly under higher fertilizer and regulator combinations. Wet gluten content reached 28.25% with F3 × GR2 compared with much lower values in untreated plots. Overall, foliar application of nano-fertilizer and growth regulator improved growth, productivity, and grain quality of wheat. The results highlight the potential of precision application of Terrasay (1.0–2.0 L ha⁻¹) and Centrino (1.25–1.5 L ha⁻¹) as an effective strategy for sustainable wheat intensification.
Open Access: Yes
Interactive Effects of Tillage, Nitrogen Fertilisation, and Herbicide Management: Impacts on Soil CO2 Emissions and Agroecosystem Dynamics in a Maize Production
Publication Name: Soil Systems
Publication Date: 2026-02-01
Volume: 10
Issue: 2
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Agriculture must balance productivity with greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, and resource concerns. This study examined how tillage (conventional, CT; minimum, MT), nitrogen fertilisation (0–221 kg N ha−1), and herbicide rates (0–100%) interactively affected soil CO2 emissions, vegetation vigour, and weed diversity in maize production during 2022. A factorial experiment was conducted on a 1 ha with 40 plots monitored soil temperature, moisture, penetration resistance, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), weed diversity (Simpson’s Index), and CO2 emissions (closed-chamber method). Minimum tillage increased soil water retention (9.3 ± 6.5% vs. 5.4 ± 4.3%), soil temperature (28.0 ± 1.5), and compaction (0.6 ± 0.3 vs. 0.1 ± 0.0 MPa), while enhancing weed diversity (0.53–0.80 vs. 0.38–0.67). MT produced higher CO2 emissions than CT, especially at 147 kg N ha−1 (49.9 ± 15.7 vs. 29.1 ± 11.6 μmol m−2 s−1), peaking under MT-147 kg N ha−1-H75 (79.4 ± 1.2 μmol m−2 s−1). NDVI responses varied between tillage systems; under CT, vegetation vigour peaked at 75% herbicide application, while under MT vegetation was more responsive to nitrogen and more sensitive to herbicide, highlighting nitrogen × herbicide interaction trade-offs. Overall, MT enhanced water conservation and weed diversity but increased short-term CO2 emissions. This study reports first-year, site-specific results from an ongoing multi-year field experiment; therefore, the findings were interpreted as short-term, season-specific responses. This highlights the need for site-specific, climate-smart management that integrates emissions, soil health, biodiversity, and productivity.
Open Access: Yes
