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Application of the threshold concentration concept to irrigation with saline water
Author(s) -
Rengasamy P.,
Mehanni A.H.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.1988.tb00748.x
Subject(s) - infiltration (hvac) , environmental science , soil water , tillage , irrigation , soil salinity , soil science , sodium adsorption ratio , hydrology (agriculture) , evapotranspiration , agronomy , drip irrigation , materials science , geology , biology , ecology , geotechnical engineering , composite material
. The applicability of the ‘threshold concentration’ concept in formulating guidelines for irrigating with saline water was tested under field conditions on red‐brown earths from different field experiments in south eastern Australia. Infiltration of water in the field and the effect of rainfall impact were studied using ring infiltrometers and a rotating‐disc rainfall simulator. Three threshold concentration lines relating sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and total cation concentration (TCC) in soil extracts were tested. These lines were based on laboratory tests of soil permeability, spontaneous dispersion and mechanical dispersion. They were found to predict the infiltration problems due to rainfall impact under three different surface soil conditions ‐ bare soil without cultivation, soil with no tillage and complete crop cover, and cultivated soils without any crop cover. Infiltration rates in continuous pasture plots were predicted by the threshold concentration line of spontaneous dispersion except in a high salt treated soil where reduced plant growth affected evapotranspiration and water intake during infiltration.