Evaluation of methods for inferring air and water properties of soils from field morphology

Soil Research ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 587 ◽  
Author(s):  
NJ Mckenzie ◽  
KRJ Smettem ◽  
AJ Ringrose-Voase

The accurate characterization of soil water and air properties is difficult in soil survey because of logistic constraints. Less reliable surrogates are commonly used to estimate these properties. The surrogates provide a method for moving from measures that tend to be static and semi-empirical to those characterizing soil processes. The utility of four schemes for predicting air-filled porosity, available water capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity on the basis of field-determined soil morphology has been assessed using data from a limited number of profiles with features commonly encountered in Australia. None of the systems provided statistically significant predictions of available water capacity and the results for air-filled porosity were moderate (McKeague et al. (1986), r2 = 0.58; Hall et al. (19771, r2 = 0 -64; Williams et al. (1991), r2 = 0.70). Encouragingly, the Hollis and Woods (1989) system generated good predictions of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (r2 = 0.77). It is concluded that better measurement methods and programs of data collection are needed for both the properties used as surrogates (e.g. morphology) and those for which predictions are required (e.g. air and water properties).

Soil Research ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
DJ Campbell ◽  
WE Fox ◽  
RL Aitken ◽  
LC Bell

Fly ash from a coal-fired power station was incorporated with each of a 'fine' (0.2-0.5 mm) and 'coarse' (1.4-2.0 mm) sand fraction to give mixtures containing 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75 and 100% fly ash by weight. The addition of 10% by weight of ash increased the available water capacity by factors of 7.2 (1.0-7.2% by weight) and 13.5 (0.4-5.4% by weight) for the 'fine' and 'coarse' sands respectively. Subsequent additional 10% increments of ash increased the capacity by smaller amounts. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the sands decreased markedly with ash addition. The changes in available water capacity and hydraulic conductivity were associated with an increase in capillary pores at the expense of non-capillary pores. Addition of fly ash to both sand fractions resulted in a bilinear relationship between void ratio (volume voids/volume solids) and fly ash percentage in the mixes which was closely related to that theoretically predicted for binary mixtures. The measured void ratios of the mixes exhibited minimum values at 36% and 20% ash by volume for the 'fine' and 'coarse' sand mixes respectively, which compared with the theoretical void ratios for these mixes of 27% and 23% respectively.


1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. COEN ◽  
C. Wang

Vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity, as an important soil characteristic, should be part of the information displayed on soil survey maps. As rigorous measurement techniques are relatively slow and cumbersome, a rapid procedure for estimating vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils using soil morphology was tested for Prairie conditions. Morphological estimates of vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity were compared to field measurements using an air entry permeameter for 36 sites representing 25 soil series. Eighty-three percent of the estimated values were within one saturated hydraulic conductivity class of the mean measured value. It was concluded that morphological observations are sufficiently accurate to allow field characterization of pedons. In Alberta, in Chernozemic areas, management procedures do not appear to modify strongly the saturated hydraulic conductivity. This in turn allows useful predictions of saturated hydraulic conductivity to be related to soil series concepts and therefore allows extrapolation to manageable tracts of land using map unit concepts. Key words: Saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil morphology, Alberta, estimating


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Kaczmarek ◽  
Piotr Gajewski ◽  
Andrzej Mocek ◽  
Wojciech Owczarzak ◽  
Bartłomiej Glina

Abstract The paper presents the characteristics of selected physical, chemical, and water properties of four mineral arable soils characterized with heavy and very heavy texture. Soil samples from genetic horizons of black earths from areas near Kętrzyn, Gniew and Kujawy, and alluvial soils from Żuławy were used. The following properties were determined in the samples of undisturbed and disturbed structure: texture, particle density, bulk density, porosity, natural and hygroscopic moistures, maximal hygroscopic capacity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, potential of water bonding in soil, total and readily available water, total retention in the horizon of 0–50 cm, drainage porosity, content of organic carbon and total nitrogen Parent rocks of these soils were clays, silts and loams of various origin. High content of clay fraction strongly influenced the values of all the analyzed properties. All the examined soils had high content of organic carbon and total nitrogen and reaction close to neutral or alkaline. High content of mineral and organic colloids and, what follows, beneficial state of top horizons’ structure, determined – apart from heavy texture – low soil bulk density and high porosity. The investigated soils were characterized by high field water capacity and wide scopes of total and readily available water. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was low and characteristic to heavy mineral arable soils. The parameter which influenced the variability of analyzed parameters most was texture.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 108-115
Author(s):  
Tanko Bako ◽  
Ezekiel Ambo Mamai ◽  
Istifanus Akila Bardey

Based on the hypothesis that soil properties and productivity components should be affected by different tillage methods, field and laboratory experiments were conducted to study the effects of zero tillage (ZT), one pass of disc plough tillage (P), one pass of disc plough plus one pass of disc harrow tillage (PH) and one pass of disc plough plus two passes of disc harrow tillage (PHH) on the distribution of the bulk density, available water capacity, pH, organic matter, available phosphorus, iron oxide and aluminium oxide at different soil depths, and their effects on the soil productivity. The available water capacity, pH, organic matter and available phosphorus were found to increase with the degree of tillage, while the bulk density, iron oxide and aluminium oxide were found to decrease with the degree of tillage. The results show that the soil productivity index was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by the tillage methods and found to increase with the degree of tillage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2791-2799
Author(s):  
Atiqah Aulia Hanuf ◽  
Sugeng Prijono ◽  
S Soemarno

Coffee plantation management has an important role in soil quality in order to increase coffee production. Biopore Infiltration Hole with Compost (BIHC) can increase soil available water capacity. In this study, the goal was to improve soil available water capacity in a coffee plantation with the implementation of the BIHC. This study was conducted at PTPN XII Bangelan, Malang, on March - August 2020. A randomized block design with seven treatments and four replications was used. The BIHC consisted of two-hole depths (30 cm and 60 cm) and two types of compost (goat manure and coffee pulp compost). The soil characteristics observed were water retention (pF) and C-organic at soil depths of 0-20, 20-40, and 40-60 cm. The coffee tree observed were number of leaves and chlorophyll content. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) by the F test and Duncan's Multiple Distance Rate Test (DMRT) at 5% probability, using SPSS program. Results of the study showed that BIHC was able to increase the content of soil C-organic and the available water capacity significantly compared with control treatment. The BIHC implementation could increase soil available water capacity up to 65% at a soil depth of 0-20 cm, up to 60% at a soil depth of 20-40 cm, and up to 51% at a soil depth of 40-60 cm more than the control treatment. The soil available water capacity suggested a significant positive correlation (p≤0.05) with the leaves number of coffee tree and chlorophyll content of leaves.


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