scholarly journals The Assessment of Water Retention Efficiency of Different Soil Amendments in Comparison to Water Absorbing Geocomposite

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 6658
Author(s):  
Michał Śpitalniak ◽  
Adam Bogacz ◽  
Zofia Zięba

Soil amendments are substances added to the soil for moisture increment or physicochemical soil process enhancement. This study aimed to assess the water conservation efficiency of available organic soil amendments like bentonite, attapulgite, biochar and inorganics like superabsorbent polymer, and nonwoven geotextile in relation to the newly developed water absorbing geocomposite (WAG) and its biodegradable version (bioWAG). Soil amendments were mixed with loamy sand soil, placed in 7.5 dm3 pots, then watered and dried in controlled laboratory conditions during 22-day long drying cycles (pot experiment). Soil moisture was recorded in three locations, and matric potential was recorded in one location during the drying process. The conducted research has confirmed that the addition of any examined soil amendment in the amount of 0.7% increased soil moisture, compared to control, depending on measurement depth in the soil profile and evaporation stage. The application of WAG as a soil amendment resulted in higher soil moisture in the centre and bottom layers, by 5.4 percent point (p.p.) and 6.4 p.p. on day 4 and by 4.5 p.p. and 8.8 p.p. on day 7, respectively, relative to the control samples. Additionally, an experiment in a pressure plate extractor was conducted to ensure the reliability of the obtained results. Soil density and porosity were also recorded. Samples containing WAG had water holding capacity at a value of −10 kPa higher than samples with biochar, attapulgite, bentonite, bioWAG and control by 3.6, 2.1, 5.7, 1 and 4.5 percentage points, respectively. Only samples containing superabsorbent polymers and samples with nonwoven geotextiles had water holding capacity at a value of −10 kPa higher than WAG, by 14.3 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively. Significant changes were noted in samples amended with superabsorbent polymers resulting in a 90% soil sample porosity and bulk density decrease from 1.70 g∙cm−3 to 1.14 g∙cm−3. It was thus concluded that the water absorbing geocomposite is an advanced and most efficient solution for water retention in soil.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Chapman ◽  
Gaston E. Small ◽  
Paliza Shrestha

AbstractAmong the ecosystem services provided by urban greenspace are the retention and infiltration of stormwater, which decreases urban flooding, and enhanced evapotranspiration, which helps mitigate urban heat island effects. Some types of urban greenspace, such as rain gardens and green roofs, are intentionally designed to enhance these hydrologic functions. Urban gardens, while primarily designed for food production and aesthetic benefits, may have similar hydrologic function, due to high levels of soil organic matter that promote infiltration and water holding capacity. We quantified leachate and soil moisture from experimental urban garden plots receiving various soil amendments (high and low levels of manure and municipal compost, synthetic fertilizer, and no inputs) over three years. Soil moisture varied across treatments, with highest mean levels observed in plots receiving manure compost, and lowest in plots receiving synthetic fertilizer. Soil amendment treatments explained little of the variation in weekly leachate volume, but among treatments, high municipal compost and synthetic fertilizer had lowest leachate volumes, and high and low manure compost had slightly higher mean leachate volumes. We used these data to parameterize a simple mass balance hydrologic model, focusing on high input municipal compost and no compost garden plots, as well as reference turfgrass plots. We ran the model for three growing seasons under ambient precipitation and three elevated precipitation scenarios. Garden plots received 12–16% greater total water inputs compared to turfgrass plots because of irrigation, but leachate totals were 20–30% lower for garden plots across climate scenarios, due to elevated evapotranspiration, which was 50–60% higher in garden plots. Within each climate scenario, difference between garden plots which received high levels of municipal compost and garden plots which received no additional compost were small relative to differences between garden plots and turfgrass. Taken together, these results indicate that garden soil amendments can influence water retention, and the high-water retention, infiltration, and evapotranspiration potential of garden soils relative to turfgrass indicates that hydrologic ecosystem services may be an underappreciated benefit of urban gardens.


2014 ◽  
Vol 941-944 ◽  
pp. 952-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dao Yuan Wang ◽  
Deng Hua Yan ◽  
Xin Shan Song ◽  
Hao Wang

Adding biochar to agricultural soil has been suggested as an approach to enhance soil carbon sequestration. Biochar has also been used as a soil amendment to reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity and improve water holding capacity. Walnut shells and woody material are waste products of orchards that are cheap, carbon-rich and good feedstock for production of biochar. The effectiveness of biochar as an amendment varies considerably as a function of its feedstock, temperature during pyrolysis, the biochar dose to soil, and mechanical composition. Biochar was produced from pyrolysis of walnut shell at 900 °C and soft wood at 600 to 700 °C. We measured the effect of these different parameters in two types of agricultural soil in Jilin and Beijing, China, a silt clay loam and a sandy loam, on the soils’ particle size distribution and water retention characteristics. Biochars with two different doses were applied to each soil type. Soil field capacity and permanent wilting point were measured using a pressure plate extractor for each combination of biochar and soil type. The results show that the effect of biochar amendment on soil water retention characteristics depend primarily on soil particle size distribution and surface characteristics of biochar. High surface area biochar can help raise the water holding capacity of sandy soil.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Pan ◽  
Shuai Hou ◽  
Yujie Liu ◽  
Qinghua Tan

AbstractSoil water retention curve (SWRC) plays an important role in simulating soil water movement and assessing soil water holding capacity and availability. Comparison of fitness between different models to determine the best SWRC model of specific regions is required. In this study, three popular models, van Genuchten, Brooks Corey and Gardner model, were selected for comparing in a degraded alpine meadow region on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Fitness, error distribution along with key parameters were compared. For each soil horizon, the soil moisture content at all soil water potentials decreased consistently with degradation, thereby integrally moving the SWRCs of all soil depths downward with degradation. The differences in SWRCs across various degradation degrees diminished along with soil depth and soil water potential. The Adj.r2 values of van Genuchten, Brooks Corey and Gardner models ranged in 0.971–0.995, 0.958–0.997, and 0.688–0.909, respectively. The van Genuchten and Brooks Corey models significantly (p < 0.05) outperformed the Gardner model, and have no significant differences in fitness. The fitness of all three models showed no significant changes with degradation. Regardless of degradation degree and soil depth, the fitting error of van Genuchten and Brooks Corey models was mainly distributed in the higher (from –100 hPa to –500 hPa) and lower (below –10000 hPa) potential sections. With regard to the parameters of van Genuchten and Brooks Corey models, the field capacity (θs), and permanent wilting moisture were highly coherent with Adj.r2 values of higher than 0.98, while the curve shape parameter (θr), and air entry pressure of the Brooks Corey model were much lower than those of the van Genuchten model with Adj.r2 values of lower than 0.91. The SWRCs with varying degrees of degradation are best fitted by both van Genuchten and Brooks Corey models but cannot be fitted by Gardner model. Soil water holding capacity decreased with degradation especially in the top soil (0 cm to 30 cm), but the curve shape of all SWRCs did not change significantly with degradation.


1974 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENGT ROGNERUD ◽  
KNUT VÅRUM

This article describes an investigation of irrigation and water use in an area with wooden shelter belts. Soil moisture was measured using a neutron moisture probe and tensiometers. The soil is deep and the water holding capacity is very high. Values of actual evapotranspiration on irrigated and non-irrigated plots are presented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 939-952
Author(s):  
Suresh Niraula ◽  
Shafiqur Rahman ◽  
Amitava Chatterjee

Abstract. Greenhouse gas (GHG) [nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4)] emission and ammonia (NH3) volatilization from organic and commercial fertilizers are likely related to soil moisture levels. Effect of soil moisture [(30%, 60%, and 90% water-holding capacity (WHC)] on emissions from urea and manure treated (215 kg ha-1) Fargo-Ryan silty clay soil was studied under laboratory conditions. Soils (250 g) amended with solid beef manure (SM), straw-bedded solid beef manure (BM), urea (UR), and control (CT) were incubated for 28 days at 22±1°C, to determine GHGs (N2O, CO2, and CH4) emission and NH3 volatilization loss. The cumulative emission of N2O-N, CO2-C, and CH4-C ranged from 27 to 4402 µg N2O-N kg-1, 272 to 2030 mg CO2-C kg-1, and 10.1 to 1389 µg CH4-C kg-1 soil, respectively. The daily fluxes and cumulative emissions of N2O and CO2 generally followed the decreasing order of 30% &lt; 90% &lt; 60% of WHC. At 60% WHC, 1.01% of the total applied N was lost as N2O from urea treated soil. Carbon dioxide emission from manure treated soil (SM and BM) was up to two times the emission from UR treated soils. The Fargo clay soils showed higher CH4 emission at 90% WHC level. The cumulative NH3 volatilization loss from soil ranged from 29.4 to 1250.5 µg NH3-N kg-1, with the highest loss from UR amended soils at 30% WHC. These results suggest that gaseous emissions from manure and urea application under laboratory study are influenced by moisture levels of Fargo-Ryan silty clay soil. Keywords: Beef manure, Greenhouse gas, Soil water, Urea, Water holding capacity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Gypser ◽  
Maik Veste ◽  
Thomas Fischer ◽  
Philipp Lange

AbstractInvestigations were done on two former open-cast lignite mining sites under reclamation, an artificial sand dune in Welzow Süd, and a forest plantation in Schlabendorf Süd (Brandenburg, Germany). The aim was to associate the topsoil hydrological characteristics of green algae dominated as well as moss and soil lichen dominated biological soil crusts during crustal succession with their water retention and the repellency index on sandy soils under temperate climate and different reliefs.The investigation of the repellency index showed on the one hand an increase due to the cross-linking of sand particles by green algae which resulted in clogging of pores. On the other hand, the occurrence of moss plants led to a decrease of the repellency index due to absorption caused by bryophytes. The determination of the water retention curves showed an increase of the water holding capacity, especially in conjunction with the growth of green algae layer. The pore-related van Genuchten parameter indicate a clay-like behaviour of the developed soil crusts. Because of the inhomogeneous distribution of lichens and mosses as well as the varying thickness of green algae layers, the water retention differed between the study sites and between samples of similar developmental stages. However, similar tendencies of water retention and water repellency related to the soil crust formation were observed.Biological soil crusts should be considered after disturbances in the context of reclamation measures, because the initial development of green algae biocrusts lead to an increasing repellency index, while the occurrence of mosses and a gain in organic matter enhance the water holding capacity. Thus, the succession of biocrusts and their small-scale succession promote the development of soil and ecosystem.


1984 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. DE JONG ◽  
J. A. SHIELDS ◽  
W. K. SLY

Long-term mean soil water reserves for a spring wheat-fallow rotation in the southern half of Saskatchewan were calculated using the Versatile Soil Moisture Budget. Four different available water-holding capacity classes and climatic data from 53 stations were used as input to the model. Soil water reserve data for the following times, seeding on 1 May in the crop year, at heading on 30 June, and on 1 May in the fallow year, were mapped. These were then combined with an available water-holding capacity map to portray in a single map the combined droughtiness due to climatic and soil attributes. Estimated soil water reserves compared well with measured data from one location in the Brown soil zone. The temporal and spatial changes in water reserves are discussed and related to summerfallowing. The maps provide information for use in making potential grain yield estimates. Key words: Soil water, wheat-fallow rotation, generalized soil areas, Saskatchewan, Versatile soil moisture budget


Author(s):  
E. K. Kago ◽  
Z. M. Kinyua ◽  
J. M. Maingi ◽  
P. O. Okemo

Aims: This study was carried out to evaluate the influence of organic and inorganic soil amendments on soil moisture content and micronutrients in semi and arid areas.   Methodology: The study was laid out as randomized complete block design (RCBD) in split plot arrangement for two seasons. The treatments were ChalimTM, Super-hydro-grow polymer and Metham sodium, Metham sodium, Metham sodium + Orange peel, Super-hydro-grow polymer, Control, Brassica tissue, ChalimTM + Super-hydro-grow polymer, Brassica tissue + Orange peel and Metham sodium + Super-hydro-grow polymer. Soils were sampled from each experimental site, dried and taken to laboratories for determination of Zinc, Iron, Manganese and copper both at initial and at the end of the experiment using a SpectrAA- 40 atomic absorption spectrometer, PSC-56 programmable sample changer. Moisture content was calculated by subtracting total dry soil plus Petri dish weight from total wet soil plus Petri dish weight. Calculated moisture content was recorded in all samples across the two seasons for analysis. Results: There was a significant difference (p≤0.05) in the treatment effect on soil moisture content in except for MS and CM+OP in both season one and season two in the green house. A combination of both organic and inorganic soil amendments like BT+OP, BT+ SHG had the highest moisture content. There was significant difference (p≤0.05) in the soil amendments effect on the amount of Micronutrients in the beginning and end of the experiement. Conclusion: Through this study, it was realized significant difference (p≤0.05) in the soil amendments effect on soil moisture content in all the treatment in both seasons. BT +SHG soil amendment was superior in maintaining soil moisture content in both season 1 and 2. It is therefore recommended that Metham sodium should not be applied in very dry soil to avoid reduction of the moisture content. There was micronutrient increment in all the treatments. BT+ SHG was superior soil amendment in increment of micronutrients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (6-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriham, A. ◽  
Muhammad Ariffaizuddin, R. ◽  
Noorlaila, A. ◽  
Faris Zakry, A. N

Processed meat products are particularly unhealthy because of high fat, preservative and salt content. This study is carried out with the aim to determine the physicochemical and sensorial properties of sausage incorporated with okara flour. There were four different sausage formulations labelled as Control (0% okara flour, 100% beef), F1 (10% okara flour, 90% beef), F2 (20% okara flour, 80% beef), F3 (30% okara flour, 70% beef) and F4 (40% okara flour, 60% beef). Formulations were subjected to proximate, water holding capacity, color, texture and sensorial analysis. Results for proximate composition, revealed that carbohydrate, ash and fiber content increased while moisture, fat and protein content decreased as the okara flour addition were increased. Water holding capacity (WHC) was found to increase as the incorporation of okara flour increased. In term of color analysis, increased in okara flour content in sausage significantly increased lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) values while decreasing in redness (a*) value. As for textural properties, the values for hardness, cohesiveness, springiness and chewiness were decreased as the incorporation of okara flour increased. Sensorial results showed that F4 had the lowest overall acceptability due to its poor texture and unacceptable taste. Hence this study concludes that okara flour has the potential to replace meat at certain levels in sausage formulations which is not more than 20% okara flour.


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