Sorghum bicolor L. Moench is a herbaceous annual C4-type plant, with a high ecological plasticity because it can be grown in tropical, subtropical, temperate and semi-arid regions, harnessing soils with reduced natural fertility, from the category of sandy soils. Studies on 5 sweet sorghum hybrids studied under psamosols in southern Oltenia highlight a bioenergy potential in the milk-wax phase of the grain, ranging from 60847.4-89338.65 Mcal / ha, with a maximum in the hybrid Shasm 2, which achieved a distinctly significant difference in production, compared to the average production of hybrids. The results recorded in sugar sorghum production were positively correlated, significantly distinct with leaf index determined during the flowering of the plants (r = 0.9854**).

Cornulaca aucheri is an annual and biannual herb considered as a disturbance indicator currently visible and widely distributed in disturbed lands in Liyah area in Kuwait. Such area suffers from severe land degradation due to multiple interacting factors such as, overgrazing, camping and recreation, gravel and sand quarrying, military activities and natural processes. A restoration program was applied after the quarry surface irregularities were refilled and levelled. During the past 10 years of rehabilitation, noticeable healthy cover of Cornulaca sp. has been seen especially around an artificial lake and playas. The existence of such species in high density means that the restoration program was a success and was transitted from bare ground to Cornulaca and annual forb state. This is a lower state of Range State Transition Succession model, but it is better than bare soil. Cornulaca sp. is a native desert plant that grows in arid conditions. Despite its spiny leaves, it provides good food for camels and increases the supply of milk produced by lactating females. It is about 80 cm tall and has a stem that is branched from the base with new faster greenery growth in the summer. It shows good environmental potential to be managed as natural types used for restoration of degraded lands in desert areas.

Soil nitrogen is a key indicator of soil quality and plays a significant role for plant growth. Therefore, it is very important to study soil nitrogen distribution, especially in semi-arid area of western China. Fewer scholars paid attention to the effect on soil nitrogen due to coal mining in semi-arid mining areas of western China. In this paper, soil samples of different locations were tested in both the loess region and the aeolian sand region in the Daliuta mining area in Shaanxi Province. The impacts of mining subsidence on soil nitrogen were investigated. The soil nitrogen distributions between the loess region and the aeolian sand region were compared, and used the principal component analysis method to evaluate soil quality in semi-arid mining area. The results showed that the comprehensive score of soil quality in the loess region was as follows: the internal pulling stress zone (NLS) > the external pulling stress zone (WLS) > the compressive stress zone (YS) > the neutral zone (ZX). The content of soil total nitrogen in YS-zone was the lowest in the loess region. The loss of nitrogen increased with time in the mining area, in which the total nitrogen loss at the depth of 0-15 cm was 0.27 g/kg, and the alkaline nitrogen loss at the depth of 0-15 cm was 1.08 mg/kg. In the aeolian sand region, the comprehensive score of soil quality was as follows: WLS > FC (the non-mining zone) > ZX > NLS > YS. The amount of soil nitrogen content in the loess region was larger than that in the aeolian sand region. It was found that for the loess region, the relationship between total nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen showed a significant positive correlation. It was also a significant positive correlation between ammonium nitrogen and alkaline nitrogen. In the aeolian sand region, there was a significant positive correlation between total nitrogen and alkaline nitrogen. There was no significant correlation among other nitrogen forms.

Under a background of a significantly warming climate, current aeolian desertification in China's northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) has been widely studied, but disagreements related to its causes continue to persist. In order to understand the present through the past, this study determined the various phases of aeolian desertification in the NEW based on the statistical analysis of 40 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) aeolian sand dates from 23 aeolian sections. Because the redistribution of aeolian sand by wind processes can reduce the number of older sand dates, this research only affects exactly the past millennium. Following this, we analyzed the relationships between aeolian desertification phases in conjunction with reconstructed climatic data. Results revealed three distinct aeolian desertification phases that approximately correspond to 1480 CE, 1680 CE, and 1800 CE, respectively. By comparing these dates to well-established paleoclimate records, we determined that these three aeolian desertification phases all occurred under a cold and dry climate background. Accordingly, aeolian desertification in the NEW today under its current warm and wet climate background can therefore be attributable to irrational human activities rather than rising temperatures. Accordingly, we can infer that under the current warmer and wetter climate background, aeolian desertification in the NEW today can be reversed as long as human activities remain moderate, even without the implementation of artificial revegetation initiatives.

Several factors affect the aeolian sand transport rate over reversing dunes. In arid zone poor in vegetation, the most important factors are effective wind direction in relation to the dune crest and the inclination of the windward slope. The objective of this paper is to analyze the variation in sand transport rate over such dunes under wind events differing in the direction of the incident wind including winds blowing from the direction of the former lee side. The research was carried out in the dune field of the Coude du Dra region (southern Morocco) where small reversing dunes, up to 3 m high, are numerous. In the case of wind blowing from the direction of low-angle slope, the sand transport rate increased tenfold between dune toe and crest when wind speed was well above the threshold value and around 25 times when wind speed was slightly greater than the threshold value. When the wind direction reversed and the steep lee slope became a windward slope, the sand transport rate at the dune crest was greater than in the previous case. It was caused by strong sand deflation that occurred at the dune crest due to its kinked profile.

Different interpretations of accumulation and preservation of aeolian sediments lead to divergent and sometimes contradictory palaeoclimate reconstructions. Although aeolian transport mainly occurs during dry climate, the preservation of the aeolian sediment is a critical factor in many environments in determining the nature of the aeolian sedimentary archive. Analysis of more than 200 optically stimulated luminescence ages for aeolian sands from Tibet shows four different aeolian phases of accumulation. Strong aeolian activity occurred during the last glacial maximum, but hardly any aeolian sediments are preserved. Consequently, the period with the highest aeolian activity is not recorded in the sedimentary record. A phase of aeolian accumulation occurred in the late glacial and the early Holocene. The duration of deposition for this phase is a consequence of the complex topography and an increase in moisture. This phase was punctuated by exceptionally strong accumulation during the Younger Dryas stade. The mid-Holocene is characterised by weak aeolian accumulation and fluvial erosion caused by greater precipitation during the maximum height of the Asian summer monsoon. Aeolian activity resumed in the late Holocene because of drier conditions. The conceptual model provides an approach that can be applied to other mountain and desert margin regions that have limited sediment availability.

The record of the Holocene millennial-scale climate variations from the aeolian deposit around the monsoonal boundary zone in northern China is poorly understood because the desert sediments are usually scattered and geological archives are discontinuous. Here, we conducted magnetic, sedimentological, and geochemical analyses of the palaeosol-aeolian sand sequence from the eastern Horqin dune field in northeastern China, which documented the detailed history of climatic variations during the past 7.0 ka. The results indicate that the climate became more humid around 7.0-5.0 ka and approached an optimal humid condition around 5.0-3.6 cal ka BP. Afterward, the moisture condition clearly declined in 3.6-1.3 cal ka BP and was replaced by dry climate at the end. Additionally, we discovered that 10 periodically dry events that punctuated the overall pattern of climatic variations in the region, with times of more than 7.0, 5.7-5.5, 5.5-5.0, 4.6-4.2, 4.2-3.7, 3.6, 3.5-3.3, and 1.3 cal ka BP. These intervals were not only very consistent with the dry/cold events in the monsoonal boundary zone of northern China, owing to weak summer monsoonal strength forced by solar radiation, but were also accordant with the increased Asian winter monsoon strengths induced by environment variations of the high latitude area. This phenomenon probably implies the antiphase relationship between Asian summer and winter monsoons on the Holocene millennial-scale around the monsoonal boundary zone of northern China.

The Chinese empire experienced a large expansion to the arid regions in the west during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). The Hexi Corridor, the Yanqi Basin, the southeastern part of the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin became part of the empire. The expansion of the Han Dynasty was accompanied by the significant intensification of irrigation farming along rivers draining the Qilian, Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses and dating of lake sediments and shorelines revealed that four large lakes in the region experienced falling levels, or were almost or completely desiccating. The level of Zhuyeze Lake was falling rapidly ca. 2100 years before present (a BP), and the accumulation of lake sediments was replaced by an alluvial fan setting in large parts of the basin. Lake Eastern Juyan desiccated ca. 1700 a BP. Lake Bosten experienced low levels and increasing salinities at ca. 2200 a BP. Lake sediments in the Lop Nur region were mostly replaced by aeolian sands during a period of near-desiccation at 1800 a BP. In contrast, records from fifteen lakes farther in the west, north or south of the Han Dynasty realm indicate relatively wet climate conditions ca. 2000 years ago. Thus, dramatic landscape changes including the near and complete desiccation of large lakes in the arid western part of today's China probably resulted from the withdrawal of water from tributaries during the Han Dynasty. These changes likely represent the earliest man-made environmental disasters comparable to the recent Aral-Sea crisis.

Soils are natural resources that require preservation and good management due to their ever-changing structure. Among the soil management applications, organic material amendments are known to be the most practical soil management methods in the improvement of the chemical and physical properties of soils. Organic matter amendments are used to preserve water in coarse-textured soils and arid region soils. This study was carried out at Bingol University Research laboratory located in eastern Turkey. In the study, different doses of soil organic matter (SOM) including walnut sawdust (WS), earthworm manure (EM) and farmyard manure (FM) were applied to sandy soils to measure their effects on the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) and available water-holding capacity (AWC) of the soils. Compared with the control application, the SOM amendments decreased the hydraulic conductivity of the sandy soils (p < 0.01). A comparison with the control application showed that the 8% WS application reduced the hydraulic conductivity of the soils by 51%, followed by the FM application with 35% and EM application with 39%. On the other hand, the SOM amendments increased the available water holding capacity of the soils when compared with the control application (p < 0.01). The application with the most notable effect was determined to be the 1% WS application.

Soybean is the most important pulse crop in the world and especially Egypt. It's import a lot of soybean. Water is one of the major limiting factors of soybean production in semiarid regions as Egypt. Therefore, choosing the appropriate irrigation system and quantity are very important for obtaining high crop production and overcoming the lack of water and not affect yield. Experiments ware conducted carried out during summer season at years 2017 and 2018, in privet Farm in north Delta, in Qalbsho area, Belqas Center, Dakahlia Government, Egypt, to investigate production of five varieties of soybean (Giza 22, Giza 21, Crawford, Giza 111 and Giza 35), affected by three irrigation intervals (4 and 6 days) and treatment (potassium k 2%, proline 3%, and K + proline) were arranged in split split plot design with three replications in sandy soil under drip irrigation system. Results showed that the drip irrigation lead to increase of all growth yield characters all varieties. Variety of Crawford had a significant effect on plant height; number of pods/plant, hundred seed weight, and seed yield compare other treatments. The variety Giza 21 had low readings compare with other varieties.