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Abstract
Infiltration, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and soil moisture characteristic were determined before and after salinisation and during de salinisation in a sandy loam soil under field conditions. Soil salinisation was simulated by irrigating a field plot repeatedly with water of 2.84 S/m electrical conductivity and 38 SAR. The steady state infiltration rate increased from 2.45 cm/day to 4.2 cm/day during salinisation, but was reduced to 0.75 cm/day when the soil was leached with good quality water. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity values in the wet and moist range were higher in the salinised soil as compared to those following desalinisation. Field soil moisture characteristics plotted from the tensiometric data showed that the water retained at any given soil water suction remained higher in the desalinised as compared to the salinised soil. The study indicates that in freshly salinised soil, the hydraulic properties are likely to deteriorate when leached with good quality water or during periods of precipitation. The long term influence of such processes, however, needs to be studied in greater detail.
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