Changes of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Bed-soils Mixed with Organic and Inorganic Materials

Abstract

Bed-soils can be used to help plants to overcome unfavorable conditions of soils, especially hydraulic properties of soils. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic and inorganic raw materials on saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s ) of bed-soils. Perlite and bottom ash, which are inorganic materials, increased more Ks of bed-soils than coco peat, an organic material. However, vermiculite, an inorganic material, increased less than coco peat. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of bed-soil mixed with fine vermiculite (0.14 ± 0.02 m h -1 ) was much lower than one containing coarse vermiculite (0.85 ± 0.21 m h -1 ). Such effect was more apparent when pressure was added on bed-soils containing fine vermiculite (0.07 ± 0.01 m h -1 ), probably reflecting the decrease in pore size with the expansion of vermiculite wetted. Compacting decreased more Ks in the bed-soils containing coco peat or vermiculite than other mixtures. Those results suggest that perlite and bottom ash in bed-soils play an important role in improving saturated hydraulic conductivity but vermiculite in bed-soils may suppress the improvement of saturated hydraulic conductivity with the decrease of its size and with the increase of compacting pressure.