Effect of Different Applications of Cactus, Rachis of Date Palm Trees and Compost on Hydraulic Properties of Sandy Soil

This laboratory study aims to investigate the effect of adding dry grinders of Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) and palm leaf bases (Rachis) and commercial soil enhancer (Compost) with different mixing ratios (2.5, 5.0, 7.5%, by weight) on improving hydraulic properties of sandy soil. Hydraulic properties included the water retention capacity, the saturated hydraulic conductivity, and the moisture content at tension values of 0.3, 1, 10 and 15 bar. These properties were estimated at the beginning of the experiment, and after six months, during which moisture and drying cycles had taken place. Through the obtained results, it was found that all additives improved the soil hydraulic properties, so that the values of the soil retention capacity and soil moisture content versus tension increased. On the other hand, all additives reduced the values of the hydraulic conductivity. The results also indicated lack significant effect of time (at the level of 5%). The different mixing ratios did not significantly affect the hydraulic conductivity (at the level of 5%). However, the results showed that the rachis grinders and the mixture consisting of rachis and cactus outperformed in hydraulic properties as compared with other treatments.

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Comparison of the Instantaneous Profile Method and inverse modelling for the prediction of effective soil hydraulic properties

Soil Research ◽

10.1071/sr04151 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 43 (5) ◽

pp. 599 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Oagile Dikinya

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Water Content ◽

Sandy Soil ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Water Retention ◽

Pressure Head ◽

Inverse Modelling ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Loamy Soil ◽

Soil Hydraulic

Soil hydraulic conductivity K(θ) and soil water retention θ(h) have been determined from a drainage experiment. Two lysimeters, one filled with a sandy soil and the other with a loamy soil, were set up for a 1-dimensional transient flow experiment. The data were collected after flooding the lysimeters with water. Soil water contents were measured by time domain reflectrometry (TDR) and pressure heads were measured by tensiometers with mercury manometers. The experimental data determined by the instantaneous profile method (IPM) were compared with the results obtained by inverse modelling. The inverse modelling proved to be superior to the IPM methodology in effective prediction of hydraulic properties. The measurable properties water content and pressure head were optimised for the following datasets: water content (WC), pressure head (P-h), and a combination of WC and P-h. For both soils the optimisation of the dataset with both WC and P-h resulted in parameters that corresponded closely to the soil hydraulic data generated by the IPM method. The correspondence for the water retention data was better than for the hydraulic conductivity data. The datasets with WC only or P-h only did not contain enough information to accurately estimate the soil hydraulic properties. In most cases the results indicated that the sandy soil gave better agreement than the loamy soil. This was attributed to the faster drainage of the sandy than the loamy soil.

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Determination of soil hydraulic properties of unsaturated sandy soil using in situ permeability tests

Journal of Groundwater Hydrology ◽

10.5917/jagh1987.44.21 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 21-33

Author(s):

Yuji TAKESHITA ◽

Kazuo YAGI ◽

Toshihiro MORII ◽

Mitsuhiro INOUE

Keyword(s):

Sandy Soil ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

In Situ Permeability ◽

Soil Hydraulic

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Hyphal colonization of Rhizophagus irregularis increases unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of a loamy sand distant from roots

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4564 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Bitterlich ◽

Richard Pauwels

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Water Content ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Volumetric Water Content ◽

Rhizophagus Irregularis ◽

Loamy Sand ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Soil Hydraulic ◽

Root Exclusion

Hydraulic properties of mycorrhizal soils have rarely been reported and difficulties in directly assigning potential effects to hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) arise from other consequences of AMF being present, i.e. their influence on growth and water consumption rates of their host plants that both also influence soil hydraulic properties.We assumed that the typical nylon meshes used for root-exclusion experiments in mycorrhizal research can provide a dynamic hydraulic barrier. It is expected that the uniform pore size of the rigid meshes causes a sudden hydraulic decoupling of the enmeshed inner volume from the surrounding soil as soon as the mesh pores become air-filled. Growing plants below the soil moisture threshold for hydraulic decoupling would minimize plant-size effects on root-exclusion compartments and allow for a more direct assignment of hyphal presence to modulations in soil hydraulic properties.We carried out water retention and hydraulic conductivity measurements with two tensiometers introduced in two different heights in a cylindrical compartment (250 cm&#179;) containing a loamy sand, either with or without the introduction of a 20 &#181;m nylon mesh equidistantly between the tensiometers. Introduction of a mesh reduced hydraulic conductivity across the soil volumes by two orders of magnitude from 471 to 6 &#181;m d-1 at 20% volumetric water content.We grew maize plants inoculated or not with Rhizophagus irregularis in the same soil in pots that contained root-exclusion compartments while maintaining 20% volumetric water content. When hyphae were present in the compartments, water potential and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity increased for a given water content compared to compartments free of hyphae. These differences increased with progressive soil drying.We conclude that water extractability from soils distant to roots can be facilitated under dry conditions when AMF hyphae are present.&#160;

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Root effects on soil water and hydraulic properties

Biologia ◽

10.2478/s11756-007-0110-8 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Horst Gerke ◽

Rolf Kuchenbuch

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Moisture Content ◽

Water Content ◽

Bulk Density ◽

Soil Water ◽

Soil Water Content ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Soil Hydraulic ◽

Root Effects

AbstractPlants can affect soil moisture and the soil hydraulic properties both directly by root water uptake and indirectly by modifying the soil structure. Furthermore, water in plant roots is mostly neglected when studying soil hydraulic properties. In this contribution, we analyze effects of the moisture content inside roots as compared to bulk soil moisture contents and speculate on implications of non-capillary-bound root water for determination of soil moisture and calibration of soil hydraulic properties.In a field crop of maize (Zea mays) of 75 cm row spacing, we sampled the total soil volumes of 0.7 m × 0.4 m and 0.3 m deep plots at the time of tasseling. For each of the 84 soil cubes of 10 cm edge length, root mass and length as well as moisture content and soil bulk density were determined. Roots were separated in 3 size classes for which a mean root porosity of 0.82 was obtained from the relation between root dry mass density and root bulk density using pycnometers. The spatially distributed fractions of root water contents were compared with those of the water in capillary pores of the soil matrix.Water inside roots was mostly below 2–5% of total soil water content; however, locally near the plant rows it was up to 20%. The results suggest that soil moisture in roots should be separately considered. Upon drying, the relation between the soil and root water may change towards water remaining in roots. Relations depend especially on soil water retention properties, growth stages, and root distributions. Gravimetric soil water content measurement could be misleading and TDR probes providing an integrated signal are difficult to interpret. Root effects should be more intensively studied for improved field soil water balance calculations.

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Inverse estimation of soil hydraulic properties under oil palm trees

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2014.12.003 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 241-242 ◽

pp. 306-312 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Nor Suhada Abd Rashid ◽

Muhamad Askari ◽

Tadashi Tanaka ◽

Jirka Simunek ◽

Martinus Th. van Genuchten

Keyword(s):

Oil Palm ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Palm Trees ◽

Inverse Estimation ◽

Soil Hydraulic

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Soil hydraulic properties of an Orthic Black Chernozem under long-term tillage and residue management

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.4141/cjss96-010 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 76 (1) ◽

pp. 63-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Baldev Singh ◽

D. S. Chanasyk ◽

W. B. McGill

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Pore Size ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Total Porosity ◽

Residue Management ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Transmission Characteristics ◽

Hordeum Vulgare L ◽

No Till ◽

Soil Hydraulic

The effects of tillage on soil hydraulic properties are unclear from the literature and residue effects are little reported. The hydraulic properties of an Orthic Black Chernozem under three tillage-residue systems in central Alberta — tillage with straw incorporated (till+straw) or removed (till−straw) — and no tillage with straw on the surface (no till+straw) — were studied for 2 yr. Measurements began in the 9th year of continuous barley (Hordeum vulgare L.).Plant-available water capacity differed among treatments only in the 0–2.5 cm layer, due to differences in water retention at −1500 kPa. Pore size partitioning revealed relatively high macroporosities (14–18% of total porosity) and residual porosity (34–41% of total porosity), but no treatment differences in the tillage layer. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration at 1 h followed the trend: no till+straw > till+straw > till−straw. Infiltration characteristics and hydraulic conductivity had considerable temporal variation. Interestingly, field and laboratory measurements gave the same order of magnitude of transmission characteristics. The common similarity of the no till+straw and the till+straw treatments and their usual difference from the till−straw treatment, especially in the water transmission characteristics, indicate the importance of the return of residue to the soil. The influence of straw on soil hydraulic properties does not appear to depend on whether it was incorporated or not. Key words: tillage, straw, residue, soil hydraulic properties, infiltration, pore size distribution

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Hydrothermal Synthesis of Na-P1 Zeolite from Pumice to Enhance Moisture Content and Water Retention Capacity of Sandy Soil

Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering - Advances of Science and Technology ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-15357-1_38 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 457-472

Author(s):

Yonas Desta ◽

Nigus Gabbiye ◽

Agegnehu Alemu

Keyword(s):

Hydrothermal Synthesis ◽

Moisture Content ◽

Sandy Soil ◽

Water Retention ◽

Water Retention Capacity ◽

Retention Capacity

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Further tests of the HYPROP evaporation method for estimating the unsaturated soil hydraulic properties

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics ◽

10.1515/johh-2017-0046 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 66 (2) ◽

pp. 161-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Camila R. Bezerra-Coelho ◽

Luwen Zhuang ◽

Maria C. Barbosa ◽

Miguel Alfaro Soto ◽

Martinus Th. van Genuchten

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Unsaturated Soil ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Water Retention ◽

Measurement Techniques ◽

Richards Equation ◽

Water Retention Curve ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Evaporation Method ◽

Soil Hydraulic

AbstractMany soil, hydrologic and environmental applications require information about the unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. The evaporation method has long been used for estimating the drying branches of the soil hydraulic functions. An increasingly popular version of the evaporation method is the semi-automated HYPROP©measurement system (HMS) commercialized by Decagon Devices (Pullman, WA) and UMS AG (München, Germany). Several studies were previously carried out to test the HMS methodology by using the Richards equation and the van-Genuchten-Mualem (VG) or Kosugi-Mualem soil hydraulic functions to obtain synthetic data for use in the HMS analysis, and then to compare results against the original hydraulic properties. Using HYDRUS-1D, we carried out independent tests of the HYPROP system as applied to the VG functions for a broad range of soil textures. Our results closely agreed with previous findings. Accurate estimates were especially obtained for the soil water retention curve and its parameters, at least over the range of available retention measurements. We also successfully tested a dual-porosity soil, as well as an extremely coarse medium with a very high van Genuchtennvalue. The latter case gave excellent results for water retention, but failed for the hydraulic conductivity. In many cases, especially for soils with intermediate and highnvalues, an independent estimate of the saturated hydraulic conductivity should be obtained. Overall, the HMS methodology performed extremely well and as such constitutes a much-needed addition to current soil hydraulic measurement techniques.

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Testing an infiltrometer methodology to investigate water impact effects on both soil sealing and hydraulic properties of a loam soil under conventional tillage and no-tillage

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-22632 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mirko Castellini ◽

Simone Di Prima ◽

Anna Maria Stellacci ◽

Massimo Iovino ◽

Vincenzo Bagarello

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Water Retention ◽

Soil Management ◽

Water Retention Curve ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Retention Curve ◽

Soil Sealing ◽

Loam Soil ◽

Soil Hydraulic

Testing new experimental procedures to assess the effects of the drops impact on the soil sealing formation is a main topic in soil hydrology.In this field investigation, the methodological approach proposed first by Bagarello et al. (2014) was extended to account for a greater soil infiltration surface (i.e., about 3.5 times higher), a higher range and number of heights of water pouring and to evaluate the different impact on soil management. For this purpose, the effects of three water pouring heights (low, L=3 cm; medium, M=100 cm; high, H=200 cm) on both no-tilled (NT) and conventionally tilled (CT) loam soil were investigated by Beerkan infiltration runs and using the BEST-procedure of data analysis to estimate the soil hydraulic properties.Final infiltration rate decreased when perturbing runs (i.e., M and H) were carried out as compared with the non-perturbing (L) ones (by a factor of 1.5-3.1 under NT and 3.4-4.4 under CT). Similarly, the water retention scale parameter, hg, increased (i.e., higher in absolute terms) by a factor 1.6-1.8 under NT and by a factor 1.7 under CT. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, changed significantly as a function of the increase of water pouring height; regardless of the soil management, perturbing runs caused a reduction in soil permeability by a factor 5 or 6. Effects on hydraulic functions (i.e., soil water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity function), obtained with the BEST-Steady algorithm, were also highlighted. For instance, differences in water retention curve at fixed soil pressure head values (i.e., field capacity, FC, and permanent wilting point, PWP) due to perturbing and non-perturbing runs, were estimated as higher under NT (3.8%) than CT (3.4%) for FC, and equal to 2.1% or 1.6% for PWP.Main results of this investigation confirm that a recently tilled loamy soil, without vegetation cover, can be less resilient as compared to a no-tilled one, and that tested water pouring heights methodology looks promising to mimic effects of high energy rainfall events and to quantify the soil sealing effects under alternative management of the soil.AcknowledgmentsThe work was supported by the project &#8220;STRATEGA, Sperimentazione e TRAsferimento di TEcniche innovative di aGricoltura conservativA&#8221;, funded by Regione Puglia&#8211;Dipartimento Agricoltura, Sviluppo Rurale ed Ambientale, CUP: B36J14001230007.&#160;ReferencesBagarello, V., Castellini, M., Di Prima, S., Iovino, M. 2014. Soil hydraulic properties determined by infiltration experiments and different heights of water pouring. Geoderma, 213, 492&#8211;501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2013.08.032

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Effect of stones on soil hydraulic properties: measurement and modeling

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-670 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mahyar Naseri ◽

Sascha C. Iden ◽

Wolfgang Durner

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Soil Temperature ◽

Hydraulic Properties ◽

Evaporation Rate ◽

Sandy Loam ◽

Stage Ii ◽

Richards Equation ◽

Water Retention Curve ◽

Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽

Soil Hydraulic

Stony soils are soils that contain a high amount of stones and are widespread all over the world. &#160;The effective soil hydraulic properties (SHP), i.e. the water retention curve (WRC) and the hydraulic conductivity curve (HCC) are influenced by the presence of stones in the soil. This influence is normally neglected in vadose zone modeling due to the considerable measurement challenges in stony soils. The available data on the effect of stones on SHP is scarce and there is not a systematic modeling approach to obtain the effective SHP in stony soils. Most of the past studies are limited to the effect of stones on the WRC and saturated hydraulic conductivity and low and medium stone contents (up to 40 % v/v). We investigated the effect of stone content on the effective SHP of stony soils through a series of evaporation experiments. Two soil materials a) sandy loam and b) silt loam as background soils were packed with different volumetric contents (0, 10, 30 and 60 %) of medium stones were in containers with a volume of 5060 cm3. Volumetric stone contents were chosen in a way to present stone-free, moderately stony and highly stony soils. All of the experiments were carried out in two replicate packings with an almost identical bulk density. Packed samples were saturated with water from the bottom and subjected to evaporation in a climate-controlled room. During the evaporation experiments, the pressure head and soil temperature were continuously monitored and the water loss from the soil columns was measured with a balance. The dewpoint method provided additional data on the WRC in the dry soil. The resulting data were evaluated by inverse modeling with the Richards equation to identify effective SHP and to analyze the effect of stone content on the evaporation rate, soil temperature, the effective WRC and the effective HCC. The applied methodology was successful in identifying effective SHP with high precision over the full moisture range. The results reveal a quicker transition from stage I to stage II of evaporation in highly stony soils. Evaporation rate reduces with the increase of the volumetric stone content. The existence of a high amount of stone content shorten stage II of evaporation driven by the vapor diffusion through the restricted soil evaporative surface.

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