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Effects of fine‐particle amendments on the hydraulic properties of coarse soils
Author(s) -
Stone David A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740310803
Subject(s) - soil water , water retention , hydraulic conductivity , environmental science , soil science , thermal diffusivity , available water capacity , bulk density , physics , quantum mechanics
Three coarse‐textured soils were amended with pulverised fuel ash and two similar fine‐particle materials, fluidised combustor ash and ground silica sand. Incorporation of the amendments to the Ap horizon of the soils increased available water retention by up to 70%. The additional water was mainly held at matric potentials between −0.05 and −1 bar. A concomitant increase in hydraulic conductivity and soil water diffusivity over the same potential range indicates, however, that the increase in water retention was at least partially offset by greater evaporation from the soil surface. This could explain the poor crop response to increases in available water capacity (AWC) reported in previous work and questions the importance placed on AWC in current soil productivity classification.