EFFECTS OF THREE SOIL CONDITIONERS ON WATER CONTENTS IN TWO SOILS AT THREE PRESSURE-PLATE MATRIC POTENTIALS

1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. STEVENSON

Soil water contents of a sandy loam and a silt loam soil were measured at −1500, −100, and either −20 or −30 kPa (the finer texture at −30 kPa) on pressure plate equipment, after samples of each soil had been treated with one of three soil conditioners or with water as a control treatment. One of the soil conditioners increased the soil water retention of both soils at all matric potentials while the other two increased soil water retention at −1500 kPa in the silt loam. The implications in terms of water availability to plants are discussed briefly. Key words: Matric potentials, soil water retention, soil conditioners, laboratory

Soil Science ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 159 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. SHOUSE ◽  
W. B. RUSSELL ◽  
D. S. BURDEN ◽  
H. M. SELIM ◽  
J. B. SISSON ◽  
...  

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Castellini ◽  
Anna Maria Stellacci ◽  
Danilo Sisto ◽  
Massimo Iovino

The multi-height (low, L = 3 cm; intermediate, M = 100 cm; high, H = 200 cm) Beerkan run methodology was applied on both a minimum tilled (MT) (i.e., up to a depth of 30 cm) and a no-tilled (NT) bare loam soil, and the soil water retention curve was estimated by the BEST-steady algorithm. Three indicators of soil physical quality (SPQ), i.e., macroporosity (Pmac), air capacity (AC) and relative field capacity (RFC) were calculated to assess the impact of water pouring height under alternative soil management practices. Results showed that, compared to the reference low run, M and H runs affected both the estimated soil water retention curves and derived SPQ indicators. Generally, M–H runs significantly reduced the mean values of Pmac and AC and increased RFC for both MT and NT soil management practices. According to the guidelines for assessment of SPQ, the M and H runs: (i) worsened Pmac classification of both MT and NT soils; (ii) did not worsen AC classification, regardless of soil management parameters; (iii) worsened RFC classification of only NT soil, as a consequence of insufficient soil aeration. For both soil management techniques, a strong negative correlation was found between the Pmac and AC values and the gravitational potential energy, Ep, of the water used for the infiltration runs. A positive correlation was detected between RFC and Ep. The relationships were plausible from a soil physics point of view. NT soil has proven to be more resilient than MT. This study contributes toward testing simple and robust methods capable of quantifying soil degradation effects, due to intense rainfall events, under different soil management practices in the Mediterranean environment.


1978 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. N. Verma ◽  
S. S. Prihar ◽  
Ranjodh Singh ◽  
Nathu Singh

SUMMARYField experiments were conducted for 4 years to study the yield of ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ crops grown in sequence on two soils differing in water-holding capacity. The results indicated that drought caused greater reduction in yield of rainy-season crops on loamy sand than on sandy loam soil. In low retentivity soil it was more profitable to raise a single crop of wheat on soil-stored water. In sandy loam soil of higher retentivity, two crops a year gave much higher yields than a single crop. Of the sequences tried, maize followed by wheat gave the highest and most stable yields. For ‘rabi’ crops, stored water showed a better yield response than an equivalent amount of rain during the growing season.


2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
R H Azooz ◽  
M A Arshad

In areas of the northwestern Canadian Prairies, barley and canola are grown in a short growing season with high rainfall variability. Excessively dry soil in conventional tillage (CT) in dry periods and excessively wet soil in no-tillage (NT) in wet periods could cause a significant decrease in crop production by influencing the availability of soil water. The effects of CT, NT and NT with a 7.5-cm residue-free strip on the planting rows (NTR) on soil water drying (–dW/dt) and recharge (dW/dt) rates were studied in 1992 and 1993 during wet and dry periods to evaluate the impact of NTR, NT and CT systems on soil moisture condition. The soils, Donnelly silt loam and Donnelly sandy loam (both Gray Luvisol) were selected and soil water content by depth was measured by time domain reflectometry. Water retained at 6 matric potentials from –5 to –160 kPa were observed. In the field study, –dW/dt was significantly greater in CT than in NT in the silt loam for the 0- to 30-cm layer during the first 34 d after planting in 1992. The 0- to 30-cm soil layer in CT and NTR dried faster than in NT during a period immediately following heavy rainfall in the silt loam in 1993. The drying coefficient (–Kd ) was significantly greater in CT and NTR than in NT in the silt loam soil in 1993 and in the sandy loam soil in 1992 in the top 30-cm depth. The recharge coefficient (Kr) was significantly greater in NT and NTR than in CT for the silt loam soil. The NTR system increased the –dW/dt by 1.2 × 10-2 to 12.1 × 10-2 cm d-1 in 1992 and 1993 in the silt loam soil and by 10.2 × 10-2 cm d-1 in 1993 in the sandy loam soil as compared with NT. The dW/dt was 8.1 × 10-2 cm d-1 greater in NTR in 1992 and 1993 in the silt loam soil and was 1.9 × 10-2 greater in NTR in 1992 than in CT in the sandy loam soil. The laboratory study indicated that NT soils retained more water than the CT soils. The NTR practice maintained better soil moisture conditions for crop growth than CT in dry periods than NT in wet periods. Compared with NT, the NTR avoided prolonged near-saturated soil conditions with increased soil drying rate under extremely wet soil. Key words: Water drying, water recharge, water depletion, wet and drying periods, hydraulic properties, soil capacity to retain water


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Hana Hlaváčiková ◽  
Viliam Novák ◽  
Koji Kameyama ◽  
Katarína Brezianska ◽  
Marek Rodný ◽  
...  

Biochar (BC) is used as a soil amendment to enhance plant growth by improving mainly soil chemical and hydrophysical properties. In this work the effects of two types of BCs on soil water retention properties were analysed. The first type of BC was made from sugarcane bagasse. It was added to a clay “Shimajiri Maji” soil at an application rate of 3 w%. The second type of BC was made from paper fiber sludge and grain husks. It was added into a loam soil at rates of 3.6, and 7.3 w%. It was assumed that the effect of BC amendment will be more pronounced in coarse-grained soil than in fine-grained one. Therefore, the second type of BC was applied additionally in the silica sand, in a textured contrast material compared with the loam soil. The BC amendment caused statistically significant increase of water content in the transmission pores of the clay soil, in the storage pores of the loam soil, and in the macropores and the storage pores in the silica sand. Despite of the positive effect on soil water retention, statistically significant increase of available water capacity (AWC) was identified only in the loam soil with the larger BC amendment rate. Possible reasons are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1893-1905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selene Cristina de Pierri Castilho ◽  
Miguel Cooper ◽  
Carlos Eduardo Pinto Juhász

One of the main negative anthropic effects on soil is the formation of crusts, resulting in soil degradation. This process of physical origin reduces soil water infiltration, causing increased runoff and consequently soil losses, water erosion and/or soil degradation. The study and monitoring of soil crusts is important for soil management and conservation, mainly in tropical regions where research is insufficient to explain how soil crusts are formed and how they evolve. The purpose of this study was to monitor these processes on soils with different particle size distributions. Soil crusts on a sandy/sandy loam Argissolo Vermelho-Amarelo (Typic Hapludult), sandy loam Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo (Typic Hapludox) and a clayey Nitossolo Vermelho eutroférrico (Rhodic Kandiudalf) were monitored. The soil was sampled and data collected after 0, 3, 5 and 10 rain storms with intensities above 25 mm h-1, from December 2008 to May 2009. Soil chemical and particle size distribution analysis were performed. The changes caused by rainfall were monitored by determining the soil roughness, hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention curves and by micromorphological analysis. Reduced soil roughness and crust formation were observed for all soils during the monitored rainfall events. However, contrary to what was expected according to the literature, crust formation was not always accompanied by reductions in total porosity, hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifeoma Edeh ◽  
Ondřej Mašek

<p>The physical properties of biochar have been shown to dramatically influence its performance as a soil amendment. Biochar particle size is one of key parameters, as it controls its specific surface area, shape, and pore distribution. Therefore, this study assessed the role of biochar particle size and hydrophobicity in controlling soil water movement and retention. Softwood pellet biochar in five particle size ranges (>2 mm, 2 – 0.5 mm, 0.5 – 0.25 mm, 0.25 – 0.063mm and <0.063 mm) was used for the experiment. These particle sizes were tested on 2 soil types (sandy loam and loamy sand) at four different application rates (1, 2, 4 and 8%).  Our results showed that biochar hydrophobicity increased with decreasing biochar particle size, leading to a reduction in its water retention capacity. The effect of biochar on soil hydraulic properties varied with different rate of application and particle sizes. With increasing rate of application, water retention increased while hydraulic conductivity decreased. Water content at field capacity, permanent wilting point, and the available water content increased with increasing biochar particle size. The soil hydraulic conductivity increased with decreasing particle sizes apart from biochar particles <0.063mm which showed a significant (p≤0.05) decrease compared to the larger particle sizes. The results clearly showed that both biochar intra-porosity and inter-porosity are important factors affecting soil hydraulic properties. Biochar interpores affected mainly hydraulic conductivity, both interpores and intrapores controlled soil water retention properties. Our results suggest that for a more effective increase in soil water retention in sandy loam and loamy sand, the use of hydrophilic biochar with high intra-porosity is recommended.</p>


Soil Research ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 325 ◽  
Author(s):  
CK Tweneboah ◽  
JW Kijne ◽  
DJ Greenland

Active aluminium oxides were removed from several soils by treatment with 0.5M calcium chloride or lM sodium chloride at pH 1.5. Soil-water retention and soil-water diffusivity were determined and contrasted with the values for these properties obtained after treatment with neutral salts. The changes resulting from the removal of aluminium oxides were relatively small in calcium saturated systems, but in sodium saturated systems soil-water diffusivity was drastically reduced by the prior removal of aluminium oxides. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of aluminium oxides on the stability of soil pores at different soil-water contents.


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