Abstract
Water management and irrigation conservation in calcareous sandy soil are of significant importance for sustaining agricultural production, especially in arid and semi-arid region that facing scarcity of water resources. The changes in hydro-physical characteristics of calcareous sand soil were investigated after date palm waste-derived biochar application in column trials. Significance of pyrolysis temperature (300 °C, 500 °C, and 700 °C), particle size [<0.5 mm (D0.5), 0.5–1 mm (D1), and 1–2 mm (D2)], and application rate (1%, 2.5%, and 5%) were studied. Variations in infiltration rate, intermittent evaporation, and saturated hydraulic conductivity as a function of aforementioned factors were investigated. After amending the top 10-cm soil layer with different biochar and application rates, the columns were subjected to six wetting and drying cycles by applying 25 cm3 tap water per week over a 6-week period. Overall, biochar application resulted in decreased saturated hydraulic conductivity, while improved cumulative evaporation. Specifically, biochar produced at 300 °C and 500 °C demonstrated 10.2% and 13.3% higher cumulative evaporation, respectively., whereas, biochar produced at 700 °C with 5% application rate resulted in decreased cumulative evaporation. Cumulative evaporation increased by 5.0%, 7.7% and, 7.8% for D0.5, D1 and D2 (mm) on average, respectively, as compared with the untreated soil. Thus, biochar with particle size 0.5–1 mm significantly improved hydro-physical properties when applied at 1%. Generally, using biochar produced at medium temperature and small particle size with appropriate application rates could improve the soil hydro-physical properties.
Highlights
Soil physical properties are important factors that impact crop production and water use in the root zone, especially in arid and semiarid regions, which are characterized by high temperatures, low rainfall, and sandy soils
Addition of biochar at the rate of 1% and produced at the three different temperatures led to an increase in cumulative evaporation by 13.5%, 15.2%, and 1.9% for treatments T300, T500, and T700, respectively (Figure 3a), the increased was in specific period of evaporation cycles
The increase of cumulative evaporation could be due to the fact that addition of biochar produced at lower pyrolytic temperatures could retain more water, which caused an increase in evaporation, especially because the biochar was placed in the top of columns
Summary
Soil physical properties are important factors that impact crop production and water use in the root zone, especially in arid and semiarid regions, which are characterized by high temperatures, low rainfall, and sandy soils. Application of amendments is considered as a means to enhance soil physical properties and hydrological parameters. Studies have shown that biochar from different feedstock materials, applied to fields for a long time, could enhanced the hydro-physical properties of soil, because it increases macro- aggregates and aggregate stability and improves water retention capacity. It enhances available water content and allows for the formation of new pores by modifying the arrangement of soil particles [5]. Saffari et al [6] repotted that soil water retention, penetration resistance, bulk density, and total porosity were increased by biochar application
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