Impact of Land Management on Available Water Capacity and Water Storage of Peat

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.5194/ismc2021-93 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Haojie Liu ◽

Franziska Tanneberger ◽

Bernd Lennartz

Keyword(s):

Bulk Density ◽

Land Management ◽

Soil Degradation ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Water Storage ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Available Water ◽

Available Water Capacity ◽

The Impact

In Germany, more than 95% of peatlands have been drained for agriculture and forestry leading to water as well as carbon storage loss, soil degradation, and water eutrophication. Soil available water capacity (AWC) is one of the most important soil properties regulating the water balance and plays a pivotal role in plant growth. Compared with that of mineral substrates, our understanding of the impact of land management on water storage and the AWC of peat is limited. In this study, we aimed to deduce possible alterations of the AWC and water storage of peat following land drainage and rewetting. We analyzed a comprehensive database (674 measurements from boreal and temperate peatlands) to seek relations between bulk density (BD), field capacity, wilting point, and AWC. Bulk density was used as a proxy for soil degradation. The AWC increases with BD up to a value of 0.2 g cm&#8722;3; a further increase in BD leads to a considerable decrease in AWC. The derived function between BD and AWC enables us to upscale the AWC to a regional scale. The average AWC of agricultural peatlands in Germany is estimated to be 37 &#177; 11 vol% (mean &#177; standard deviation). Currently, the water storage of agricultural peatlands in Germany is approximately 1.0 m3 per m2. We estimated that water storage in the natural peatlands in Germany was 33.8 km3 prior to drainage. Converting natural peatlands into agricultural land resulted in a water storage loss of approximately 18.6 km3. Several decades of peatland rewetting have a limited effect on water storage recovery due to a substantial loss of peat thickness because of former drainage and a low porosity of degraded peat.

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Impact of Land Management on Available Water Capacity of Peat Soil

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12098 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Haojie Liu ◽

Franziska Tanneberger ◽

Bernd Lennartz

Keyword(s):

Bulk Density ◽

Soil Degradation ◽

Soil Depth ◽

Peat Soil ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Organic Matter Content ◽

Matter Content ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Available Water ◽

Available Water Capacity

In Central Europe, about 90% of fen peatlands have been drained for agriculture and forestry leading to greenhouse gas emissions and soil degradation. Soil available water capacity (AWC) is one of the most important soil properties regulating the water balance at a given site and plays, thus, a pivotal role in plant growth. Compared with that of mineral substrates, our understanding of the AWC of peat is limited. In this study, we aimed to deduce possible alterations of the AWC of peat following soil degradation. We analysed a comprehensive database (674 measurements from boreal and temperate peatlands) to seek relations between bulk density (BD) and total porosity, field capacity, wilting point, and AWC. Bulk density was used as a proxy for peat degradation as it is closely correlated with the soil organic matter content. The AWC increases gradually with BD up to a value of 0.2 g cm&#8722;3; a further increase in BD leads to a considerable decrease in AWC. The increase in AWC occurs within the first 15 to 30 years of land drainage, depending on the initial soil BD before drainage. The function between BD and AWC enables us to upscale the AWC to a regional scale. The average AWC of agricultural peatlands in Germany is estimated to be 37 &#177; 11 vol% (mean &#177; standard deviation). In Germany, the AWC decreases with increasing soil depth for highly degraded peatlands, which are characterised by BD values of 0.4 g cm&#8722;3 > BD > 0.2 g cm&#8722;3. However, for extremely degraded peatlands (BD > 0.4 g cm&#8722;3), the AWC increases with increasing soil depth. For those highly and extremely degraded peatlands, we estimated that 1 wt% organic carbon loss causes a drop of 1.25 vol% in AWC. Peatland rewetting may increase soil AWC, however, plants may still suffer from a water deficit under extreme dry weather conditions.

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Impact of land management on available water capacity and water storage of peatlands

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115521 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 406 ◽

pp. 115521

Author(s):

Haojie Liu ◽

Fereidoun Rezanezhad ◽

Bernd Lennartz

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Water Storage ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Available Water ◽

Available Water Capacity

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Effect of microbial UGmax enricher on soil physical and water retention properties

Soil Science Annual ◽

10.2478/ssa-2018-0025 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 69 (4) ◽

pp. 243-250

Author(s):

Mirosław Orzechowski ◽

Jacek Długosz ◽

Sławomir Smólczyński ◽

Barbara Kalisz ◽

Paweł Sowiński ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bulk Density ◽

Water Retention ◽

Particle Density ◽

Soil Bulk Density ◽

Temperate Climate ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Available Water ◽

Available Water Capacity ◽

Water Retention Properties ◽

The Impact

Abstract The paper presents the impact of UGmax enricher on soil physical and water retention properties. The experiment was established in 2005 in a 2 ha field 9 km from Lidzbark Warmiński in the village of Budniki. The studied soils were classified as Cambisols and Luvisols (IUSS Working Group WRB 2015), and they were formed from glaciolimnic deposits. Soil bulk density, soil particle density, texture, total porosity and water retention properties using low and high-pressure chambers were determined. The use of UGmax enricher on loamy soils used as arable lands in temperate climate of north-eastern Poland caused significant decrease of soil bulk density, increase of available water capacity and readily available water capacity. Statistically significant differences between examined soil properties were observed in most studied years.

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Determination of the effects of tillage on the productivity of a sandy loam soil using soil productivity models

Research in Agricultural Engineering ◽

10.17221/46/2020-rae ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 (No. 3) ◽

pp. 108-115

Author(s):

Tanko Bako ◽

Ezekiel Ambo Mamai ◽

Istifanus Akila Bardey

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Iron Oxide ◽

Bulk Density ◽

Aluminium Oxide ◽

Available Phosphorus ◽

Soil Productivity ◽

Water Capacity ◽

Available Water ◽

Available Water Capacity ◽

Tillage Methods

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.

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