Open AccessFertilizer Salts Reduce Hydration of Polyacrylamide Gels and Affect Physical Properties of Gel-amended Container Media
Author(s) -
Daniel Bowman,
Russell Evans,
J Paul
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of the american society for horticultural science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.408
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 2327-9788
pISSN - 0003-1062
DOI - 10.21273/jashs.115.3.382
Subject(s) - chemistry , divalent , sawdust , urea , polyacrylamide , salt (chemistry) , inorganic chemistry , fertilizer , silica gel , nuclear chemistry , sodium , chromatography , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry
Hydration of three commercial hydrophilic polyacrylamide gels in deionized water ranged from 340 to 420 g per gram of gel. Hydration was progressively inhibited by fertilizer salt concentrations from 0 to 20 meq·liter -1 . Hydration of the gels in the presence of divalent cations (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) and monovalent cations (K+ and NH 4 + ) at 20 meq·liter -1 was reduced to ≈10% and 20% of maximum, respectively. The valence of the accompanying anion did not affect hydration. Gel hydration was unaffected by urea over the range of 2 to 20 m m . Sequential rinses of the hydrated gels with deionized water completely reversed the inhibition due to the monovalent, but not the divalent, cations. The electroconductivity (EC) of the external solution increased during gel hydration. In the presence of fertilizer salts, the physical properties of a 2 redwood sawdust : 1 sand (v/v) container mix were unaffected by hydrophilic gel additions of 1.2 and 2.4 kg·m -3 (1 × and 2 × the recommended rate, respectively).