Abstract
Synthetic polymers, such as polyacrylamide (PAM), and biochar are generally used as soil amendments to improve soil properties. This paper explores a laboratory column experiment conducted to investigate the effects of biochar (pyrolysis at 400–450 °C) and polymers, with different application rates, on the hydro-physical properties of sandy soil. The experiment evaluated four rates each of biochar (0.0% (C), 2% (B1), 4% (B2), 6% (B3) and 8% (B4)) and polymers (0.0% (C), 0.2% (P1), 0.4% (P2), 0.6% (P3), and 0.8%(P4)), as well as a mixture of them. The infiltration rate decreased significantly when a mixture of biochar and polymers was adopted. B1 showed a decrease of 32.73% while a mixture of 8% (B4) and (0.8%) P4 exhibited a decrease of 57.31%. The polymers increased the infiltration rate at low concentrations (P1 and P2) and reduced it at high concentrations (P3 and P4). The cumulative evaporation decreased significantly for most treatments. B1 recorded the highest decrease in cumulative evaporation with a percentage decrease of 31.9%. The highest decrease in hydraulic conductivity (Ks) was for B1. However, the mixture of B4 and P4 resulted in the highest increase in soil moisture content at field capacity compared to the control and other treatments. P4 and the mixture of B2 and P2 showed significant (p < 0.05) increases in the percentage of stable aggregate (SA) in fraction size (0.25–0.125 mm). Although the mixture of B4 and P4 had the highest increase in soil moisture content, this study recommends using the B1 treatment on sandy soil in arid environments due to its strong hydro-physical properties and affordability.
Highlights
Soil amendments such as natural products or synthetic polymers are used to sustain good soil properties and optimum water resources for crop production in arid and semi-arid regions
While the pH were determined using pH meter (Hanna, HI 9811-5).The Ca+2and Mg+2 were determined by titration with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), Na+ and K+ by flame photometer apparatus (Corning 400), CO3−2 and HCO3− by titration with acid, Cl− measured by titration with silver nitrate, and SO4−2 determined by turbidity method (Table 1).The texture determined by hydrometer method and the soil texture was loamy sand [23]
The impact of date palm biochar rates between 2% and 8%, polymer rates between 0.2% and 0.8%, and mixture of these was investigated for improvement of hydro-physical properties of sandy soils using fresh water
Summary
Soil amendments such as natural products (compost and manure) or synthetic polymers are used to sustain good soil properties and optimum water resources for crop production in arid and semi-arid regions. Application of suitable soil amendments to develop soil properties has become an increasingly common option to improve the sustainability of agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas. Obia et al [5] evaluated the effects of maize cob biochar on the physical properties of sandy loam and loamy sand soils in fields of maize and soybeans. They found that bulk density decreased by 3–5% and porosity and available water capacity increased by 2–3% after adding biochar to the soil for both crops. While the stable soil aggregates for the maize crop increased by 2.6 ± 1.9% and 2.9 ± 1.9% for the 0.6–2 and 2–6 mm aggregates, respectively
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