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Water and Salt Status of Bare Soil and Turfgrass Systems Irrigated with Recycled Water
Author(s) -
Devitt Dale A.,
Wright Lena,
Young Michael H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj2012.0126
Subject(s) - lysimeter , loam , leaching (pedology) , drainage , soil water , irrigation , environmental science , agronomy , soil science , ecology , biology
Recycled water is used extensively in the southwestern United States as an alternative source of water for irrigation. However, using such waters require proper management to avoid excessive salt loading and N leaching. A study was conducted to assess the impact of recycled water on the water and salt status of Boulder City loamy sand (BC) and North Las Vegas sandy loam (NLV) soils left bare or planted to turfgrass with leaching fractions (LF = drainage volume/irrigation volume) of 0.05 or 0.25. It took as long as 375 d for drainage to occur in one of the NLV 0.05 LF lysimeters, with a prediction of 820 d for the first pore volume of drainage (PV = drainage volume/unsaturated soil water volume in storage). Crop coefficients ( K c ) and evaporation coefficients ( K e ) revealed a significant soil × LF interaction ( P < 0.05) with a statistical separation between turfgrass grown in the NLV soil under a 0.25 LF ( K c = 1.17) vs. all other turfgrass treatments ( K c = 0.99) and also with regards to K e (0.91 vs. 0.52). Displacement of salts and specific ions were linked to PVs of drainage and soil type. In the case of the NLV lysimeters, the Na leached was related to the Mg leached in a sigmoidal fashion ( r 2 = 0.96, P < 0.001) whereas the Ca leached decreased as the Mg leached increased in a curvilinear fashion ( P < 0.05). Nitrogen leaching in Year 2 under turfgrass irrigated with recycled water averaged 2 ± 3% of N applied; suggesting that properly managed turfgrass could function as an excellent bio‐filter.