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To identify the sources of contamination with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in roadside orchard soils and to evaluate the potential ecological and environmental impacts in Gaziantep, soil samples from 20 mixed pistachio and olive orchards on roadsides with different traffic densities and at different distances to the roads were analyzed. Concentrations were 23,407.36 ± 4183.76 mg·kg−1 for Fe, 421.78 ± 100.26 mg·kg−1 for Mn, 100.20 ± 41.92 mg·kg−1 for Ni, 73.30 ± 25.58 mg·kg−1 for Cr, 65.03 ± 12.19 mg·kg−1 for Zn, 60.38± 7.91 mg·kg−1 for Pb, 17.74 ± 3.35 mg·kg−1 for Cu, 14.93 ± 4.94 mg·kg−1 for Co, and 0.30 ± 0.12 mg·kg−1 for Cd. It was found that the Ni content in 51% and the Cr content in 18% of orchard soils were above the legal limits for agricultural soils (pH > 6) in Türkiye. Factor analysis (FA) showed that Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Pb loaded on the first factor (FC1), while Cd and Zn loaded mostly on the second factor (FC2). It was found that Cr, Ni, and Pb were primarily enriched through pedogenic processes, whereas Cd most likely originated from agricultural activities, while the impact of road traffic as source of PTE contamination was insignificant. It has been revealed that the soils are of low quality for agricultural production due to PTE contamination (PIave ≥ 1). The SOPI values from environmental and ecological individual indices showed that the soil pollution level was moderate for Cd, Ni, and Pb, and low for Cr. The soil pollution index (SOPI) proved to be suitable for evaluating and comparing PTE pollution in regions with different soil properties.

Agricultural land use and land cover dynamics were investigated in the Araban district of Turkey during the periods 1984–2019 by the use of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Landsat‑TM and Landsat‑TIRS / OLI satellite imageries were used to determine land use and land cover changes. Using unsupervised classification method of ERDAS 8.3 software, three main agricultural activities were identified namely irrigated farming, dry farming, and horticultural / garden farming. The analysis has revealed that during the last three decades dry farming has decreased significantly by 14.69% (3802.14 ha) whereas horticultural/garden crops and irrigated farming lands have increased by 11.32% (667.19 ha) and 2.51% (2929.41 ha) respectively. Araban has been under intensive agricultural use due to its fertile soil and preference for horticultural crops such as pistachio, grapes and olives that provide more profit over dry farming crops such as wheat and barley has changed land use. Decrease in dry farming in a semi‑arid climate where Araban is located, has a potential ecological consequence, including a rapid drop of groundwater level, drying of wetlands and the disappearance of the biodiversity, thus, a necessary measures should be taken to implement an environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture and settlement plan.

As a result of the global warming caused by increasing industrialization, changes in vegetation have occurred on the earth. Halophyte species have been observed in many areas including native vegetation and agricultural land due to increased drought and warming and also over irrigation during formation of secondary vegetation. Soil samples were taken seasonally from selected three areas (Timurlenk, Karapinar and Fakili) in Araban (Gaziantep Turkey) and the pH, electrical conductivity (EC), lime (CaCO3), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) analyzes were performed in this samples. In addition, the presence of taxa known to be halophytes in these areas has been investigated. As a result of the analyses, it was found that there was no seasonal difference (p > 0.05), but there were significant differences between lime (CaCO3), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) among the localities (p Alhagi pseudoalhagi M. Bieb. was found in Timurlenk and Karapinar, Salsola kali spp. ruthenica Iljin was found in Timurlenk and Juncus inflexus L. was found in Timurlenk, Karapinar, Fakili. Although the soil is not salty, the presence of three different taxa that can tolerate the salt in three localities shows that the amount of salt in the soil may increase in time. The information presented in this study contributes to the salinization of soils and their effects on agriculture in the region.

Background The increasing production of nanoplastics and the fragmentation of microplastics into smaller particles suggest a plausible yet unclear hazard in the natural environment, such as soil. We investigated the short-term effects (28 days) of polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) on the activity and biomass of soil microbiota, and the functional diversity of soil enzymes at environmental relevant low levels in an incubation experiment. Results Our results showed a significant decrease in microbial biomass in treatments of 100 and 1000 ng PS-NP g−1 DM throughout the incubation period. Dehydrogenase activity and activities of enzymes involved in N-(leucine-aminopeptidase), P-(alkaline-phosphatase), and C-(β-glucosidase and cellobiohydrolase) cycles in the soil were significantly reduced at day 28 suggesting a broad and detrimental impact of PS-NPs on soil microbiota and enzymes. Leucine-aminopeptidase and alkaline-phosphatase activities tended to decrease consistently, while β-glucosidase and cellobiohydrolase activities increased at high concentrations (e.g., PS-NP-1000) in the beginning of the incubation period, e.g., at day 1. On the other hand, basal respiration and metabolic quotient increased with increasing PS-NP application rate throughout the incubation period possibly due to increased cell death that caused substrate-induced respiration (cryptic growth). Conclusions We herewith demonstrated for the first time the potential antimicrobial activity of PS-NPs in soil, and this may serve as an important resource in environmental risk assessment of PS-NPs in the soil environment. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12302-018-0140-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Temperature and precipitation pattern changes in the 21st century due to the increased emission of green- house gases in the atmosphere. Turkey is located in a semi-arid climate belt, which is under constant threat of global drought. Potential climate change in the 21.centuy is expected to further increase this drought. Therefore, data on agriculture, which is of great importance for all living things in the world, should be obtained constantly, regularly and at adequate frequency. In this study, phenology of Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.,) on different soil types was monitored using MODIS data in 2000-2010 period. Ori- gins and the most important gene source of Pistachio is the Near East Region including Caucasia, Iran and Turkmenistan. Gaziantep province in Turkey has the largest pistachio gardens in southeastern Turkey. Pistachio test sites were determined in Nizip district of Gaziantep, which is located in east of Gaziantep. Determined test sites were identified from the areas with different soil properties. Thus, the effect of changing soil characteristics on pistachio phenology was determined. In conclusion, it was found that pistachio showed the highest biomass activity in April and May and showed a decrease in biomass activity in June. Pistachio stages show simi- larities in all soil groups. However, it was observed that pistachio specimens selected from sloped areas in northern section of Nizip district showed highest biomass activity.

This study was carried out to determine the erosion level in agricultural lands in the wester part of Ankara and to make suggestions relating to prevent erosion. Soil samples from 0-40 cm depth in selected particular stations were taken and analyzed for several parameters of erosion. The level of erosion in agricultural lands in the west of Ankara was determined by Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and it was found that sampled soils have a low organic matter, low permeability, high amount of silt and high erodibility. Soil loss in stations was found to be between 21.8 t/ha/year and 37.6 t/ha/year. These results indicated that the erosion level is much over the acceptible limits and there is a need for the development of solution strategies immediately. Acceleration of erosion research and applications will aid to the fight with erosion which can