Sandy soils in arid regions have low fertility, poor structural stability, and limited water‐holding capacity. This study evaluated phosphogypsum (PG) as a soil amendment for improving sandy‐soil quality and wheat productivity under arid conditions.
A field experiment was conducted during the 2020/2021 winter season in West El‐Minia, Egypt. PG was applied at 0, 10, 20, and 30 t ha
−1
by surface broadcasting or soil incorporation. Soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, wheat yield, and nutrient uptake were evaluated.
Treatment performance depended on the management objective. Soil incorporation at 30 t ha
−1
(T4M4) produced the strongest overall improvement in most soil and microbial indicators, whereas surface application at 20 t ha
−1
(T3S3) produced the highest numerical grain yield and nutrient uptake. Under T4M4, bulk density decreased from 1.61 to 1.46 g cm
−3
, field capacity increased from 16.0% to 25.16%, available water rose from 11.0% to 19.65%, soil pH declined from 8.2 to 7.8, and cation exchange capacity increased from 4.22 to 9.08 cmolc kg
−1
. Microbial biomass carbon and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis activity increased by 327.7% and 107.6%, respectively. Grain‐yield increases ranged from 29.5% to 60.3% relative to the control.
Surface application at 20 t ha
−1
was the most effective yield‐oriented treatment, whereas incorporation at 30 t ha
−1
provided broader soil and microbial improvement. PG recommendations should therefore be selected according to the intended management objective rather than a single generalized optimum.
M. M. Abd El-Azeim, Marwa S. Hussien, Mustafa H. Hashem et al.· Environmental Progress &...· 0 citations
A mathematical model was developed and experimentally validated to predict the thermal performance and drying behavior of an indirect active solar dryer (IAHSD) for mint leaves. The distinctive contribution of the proposed approach is its integration of solar-energy input, auxiliary gas heating, controlled fresh–recirculated air mixing, ambient-humidity effects, chamber heat losses, and mint-leaf moisture removal within a computationally accessible model suitable for operational assessment and control-oriented applications. The model describes coupled heat and mass transfer processes while considering key operating parameters, including drying air temperature (50–60°C), air recirculation ratio (70–90%), and ambient relative humidity (20–80%). Simulation results showed that increasing drying air temperature and recirculation ratio enhanced the drying chamber temperature, whereas higher ambient humidity reduced the thermal level and slowed moisture removal. Predicted chamber temperatures ranged from 37.83°C to 67.31°C depending on the inlet air temperature, while experimental values followed similar trends but were slightly lower due to environmental variations. Maximum temperatures occurred near midday, highlighting the influence of solar radiation on system performance. The model also captured moisture removal dynamics, indicating that higher drying temperatures accelerated drying rates, while elevated humidity reduced evaporation efficiency. Under low temperature and high humidity conditions, temporary moisture absorption was observed due to reversed vapor pressure gradients. Model validation showed strong agreement between predicted and measured data, with coefficients of determination (R
2
) ranging from 0.85 to 0.96, confirming the reliability of the proposed model.
El-Sayed G. Khater, A. Bahnasawy, Wulfran Fendzi Mbasso et al.· Energy Exploration & Exp...· 0 citations
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