Estimating water retention curves of forest soils from soil texture and bulk density

Forest soils differ significantly from the arable land in their distribution of the soil bulk density and humus content, but the water retention parameters are primarily derived from the data of agricultural soils. Thus, there is a need to relate physical parameters of forest soils with their water retention characteristics and compare them with those of agricultural soils. Using 1850 water retention curves from forest soils, we related the following soil physical parameters to soil texture, bulk density, and C content: air capacity (AC), available water capacity (AWC), and the permanent wilting point (PWP). The ACs of forest soils were significantly higher than those of agricultural soils which were related to the low bulk densities of the forest soils, whereas differences in AWCs were small. Therefore, for a proper evaluation of the water retention curves (WRCs) and the parameters derived from them, further subdivisions of the lowest (< 1.45 g cm^‐3) of the three bulk density classes was undertaken to the wide range of low soil densities in forest soils (giving a total of 5 bulk density classes). In Germany, 31 soil texture classes are used for the estimation of soil physical parameters. Such a detailed classification is not required because of insignificant differences in WRCs for a large number of these classes. Based on cluster analysis of AC, AWC, and PWP parameters, 10 texture collectives were obtained. Using 5 classes of bulk densities, we further calculated the ACs, AWCs, and the PWPs for these 10 classes. Furthermore, “van Genuchten parameters” (θ r, θ s, α, and n) were derived which described the average WRC for each designated class. In a second approach using multiple regression analysis, regression functions for AC, AWC, and PWP and for the van Genuchten parameter were calculated.     

Plant-available water and integral energy for Medicago sativa and Bromus tomentellus in texturally different soils

Soil water availability is very crucial for pasture plants because their growth solely depends on the soil water storage. While plant-available water (PAW) is successfully related to plant growth, it is the energy required per unit mass of water, integrated over the PAW range, named the integral energy (E_I) that determines how easily plants can take up water from the soil. The soil water retention function was integrated over the PAW range to calculate the E_I. PAW and E_I were determined for Medicago sativa (alfalfa, a legume) and Bromus tomentellus (a grass) species in five texturally different soils of semi-steppe rangeland in central Zagros, western Iran. The PAW was calculated as the difference between field capacity and permanent wilting point (nominal h of 15,000 hPa or actual h obtained from PWP value determined in greenhouse). E_I values were calculated for the nominal and actual PAW values. M. sativa PAW and E_I values were more than those from B. tomentellus, indicating that M. sativa was able to tolerate higher soil matric suctions at similar conditions. Results showed predicting E_I only from basic soil properties is not accurate. PAW and E_I are dependent on plant species and soil type interactions, and environmental compatibility.     

陕西省洛川县第3-4层黄土和古土壤水分特征研究

通过对陕西省洛川县第3—4黄土层和第3—4红色古土壤层的原状土进行水分特征曲线、田间持水量等项目的实验测定,分析计算了各层土壤的供水储水性能及有效水分含量。结果表明,洛川第3—4黄土层和第3—4红色古土壤土层的水分特征曲线与Van Genuchten模型非常符合,相关系数R2均达0.99以上,说明采用Van Genuchten模型对这4个土层的水分含量和能量之间的关系进行描述是比较准确的。0～30kPa吸力条件下,第3—4黄土层比第3—4红色古土壤层持水量高,黄土层的供水(释水)性能和储水性能强于古土壤。这4个土层随着吸力的增加,在较低吸力段供水性能和储水性能减弱幅度较大,在较高吸力段减弱幅度较小。黄土层所能容纳的有效水含量、饱和含水量与田间持水量均大于红色古土壤层,黄土层的稳定凋萎湿度一般小于红色古土壤的稳定凋萎湿度。     

甘肃省不同气候类型区土壤水分特性

为揭示甘肃省不同气候区不同质地土壤的容重、田间持水量和凋萎湿度的差异,对观测资料的适用性和推广价值进行评价.通过对77个站点10—100 cm土壤水分资料的分析,结果表明:甘肃省全省的土壤容重范围为0.89～1.79 g/cm3,平均值为1.36 g/cm3,表层土壤容重与深层土壤容重差异显著(P<0.05),半湿润区...     

Soil hydraulic and physico-chemical properties of Ultisols and Inceptisols in south-eastern Nigeria

Understanding soil water dynamics and storage is important to avoid crop failure on highly weathered, porous and leached soils. The aim of the study was to relate soil moisture characteristics to particle-size distributions and chemical properties. On average, Atterberg limits were below 25% in the A-horizon and not more than26.56% in the B-horizon, whereas soil bulk density was between 1.27 and 1.66Mgm^?3. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat) was generally between 0.20 and 5.43 cm h^?1 in the top soil and <1.31 cm h^?1 in the subsoil. The higher K_sat values for the A-horizons were attributed to the influence soil microorganisms operating more in that horizon. The amount of water retained at field capacity or at permanent wilting point was greater in the B-horizons than in the A-horizons, suggesting that clay accumulation in the B-horizon and evapotranspiration effects in the A-horizon may have influenced water retention in the soils. Soil moisture parameters were positively related to clay content, silt content, exchangeable Mg²⁺, Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃, and negatively related to sand content, SiO₂, sodium absorption ratio, exchangeable sodium percentage and bulk density. The low clay content may explain why drainage was so rapid in the soils.     

Pedotransfer functions for estimating plant available water and bulk density in Swedish agricultural soils

Abstract

Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) to estimate plant available water were developed from a database of arable soils in Sweden. The PTFs were developed to fulfil the minimum requirements of any agro-hydrological application, i.e., soil water content at wilting point (θ _wp ) and field capacity (θ _fc ), from information that frequently is available from soil surveys such as texture and soil organic carbon content (SOC). From the same variables we also estimated bulk density (ρ) and porosity (ε), which seldom are included in surveys, but are needed for calculating element mass balances. The seven particle-size classes given in the data set were aggregated in different ways to match information commonly gained from surveys. Analysis of covariance and stepwise multiple linear regression were used for quantifying the influence of depth, particle size class, textural class and soil organic carbon on the characteristic variables. PTFs developed from other data sets were also tested and their goodness-of-fit and bias was evaluated. These functions and those developed for the Swedish database were also tested on an independent data set and finally ranked according to their goodness of fit. Among single independent variables, clay was the best predictor for θ _wp , sand (or the sum of clay and silt) for θ _fc and SOC for ρ and ε. A large fraction of the variation in θ _wp and θ _fc is explained by soil texture and SOC (up to 90%) and root mean square errors (RMSEs) were as small as 0.03 m³ water m^?3 soil in the best models. For the prediction of ρ and ε in the test data set, the best PTF could only explain 40–43% of the total variance with corresponding RMSEs of 0.14 g cm^?3 and 5.3% by volume, respectively. Recently presented PTFs derived from a North American database performed very well for estimating θ _wp (low error and bias) and could be recommended for Swedish soils if measurements of clay, sand and SOC were available. Although somewhat less accurately, also θ _fc could be estimated satisfactorily. This indicates that the determination of plant available water by texture and SOC is rather independent of soil genesis and that certain PTFs are transferable between continents.     

Comparative Analysis of MLR,ANN, and ANFIS Models for Prediction of Field Capacity and Permanent Wilting Point for Bafra Plain Soils

ABSTRACT

Soil hydraulic parameters like moisture content at field capacity and permanent wilting point constitute significant input parameters of various biophysical models and agricultural practices (irrigation timing and amount of irrigation to be applied). In this study, the performance of three different methods (Multiple linear regression – MLR, Artificial Neural Network – ANN and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System – ANFIS) with different input parameters in prediction of field capacity and permanent wilting point from easily obtained soil characteristics were compared. Correlation analysis indicated that clay content, sand content, cation exchange capacity, CaCO₃, and organic matter had significant correlations with FC and PWP (p < .01). Validation results revealed that the ANN model with the greatest R² and the lowest MAE and RMSE value exhibited better performance for prediction of FC and PWP than the MLR and ANFIS models. ANN model had R² = 0.83, MAE = 2.36% and RMSE = 3.30% for FC and R² = 0.81, MAE = 2.15%, RMSE = 2.89% for PWP in training dataset; R² = 0.80, MAE = 2.27%, RMSE = 3.12% for FC and R² = 0.83, MAE = 1.84%, RMSE = 2.40% for PWP in testing dataset. Also, Bayesian Regularization (BR) algorithm exhibited better performance for both FC and PWP than the other training algorithms.     

Prediction of soil water retention properties after stratification by combining texture,bulk density and the type of horizon

Among the numerous pedotransfer functions (PTFs) published, class‐PTfs have received little attention because their accuracy is often considered limited. However, recent studies show that performance of class‐PTFs can be similar to the more popular continuous‐PTFs. In this study, we compare the performance of PTFs that were derived from a set of 456 horizons collected in France grouped by combinations of texture, bulk density and type of horizon (topsoil and subsoil). The performance of these class‐PTFs was validated against water retained at ?33 and ?1500 kPa. Our results show that the best performance was obtained with class‐PTFs that used both texture and bulk density (texture‐structural class‐PTFs). They also showed that incorporation of horizon type into the PTF did not improve prediction performance. Comparison of performance at ?33 and ?1500 kPa showed very little difference, thus indicating no bias according to the value of water potential. Finally, the class‐PTFs developed are well suited for predicting water retention properties at the continental and national scales because only very basic soils data are available at these scales. A map of the available water capacity (AWC) was established for France using the 1:1 000 000 Soil Geographical Database of France and an averaged AWC of 104 mm was computed for France.     

不同水分条件下保水剂对土壤持水与供水能力的影响

为探明水分条件对保水剂作用效果的影响,采用盆栽实验,测定冬小麦生长结束后不同水分条件下保水剂不同用量（T1：0、T2：27 mg/kg、T3：54 mg/kg、T4：81 mg/kg）处理的土壤持水、供水及导水性能等。结果表明：保水剂的施用均提高了土壤持水、供水、导水能力及土壤有效水含量。轻度胁迫条件下,以T3处理的持水能力、有效水含量及导水能力最强,而供水能力以T4处理为佳;充分供水条件下,随保水剂用量的增加,土壤持水能力、供水能力、有效水含量及导水能力均提高,但T3和T4处理间差异不显著。与轻度胁迫相比,充分供水条件下各处理的持水能力、供水能力及导水能力均较高,而有效水含量以轻度胁迫条件下的T3处理较高,较对照增加18.6%。从经济的角度考虑,2水分条件下以T3处理（54 mg/kg）效果为佳。     

十六烷基三甲基氯化铵改性黏土固沙保水性能

为解决沙漠公路施工和养护中固沙难的问题,利用十六烷基三甲基氯化铵(Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Chloride,CTAC)制备了一种改性黏土材料。研究了材料的力学性能、抗老化性能和保水性能,并利用X射线衍射仪、红外光谱分析仪和扫描电子显微镜对其固沙保水机理进行分析。结果表明:当CTAC与黏土的质量比为5:4时,固沙材料力学性能和耐老化性能较好,其透气保水性能较为均衡,草籽发芽率达到最高,为47%。微观分析表明:CTAC通过插层作用将松散的黏土颗粒连接,黏土间隙变为憎水性,水分运移阻力增大,因此改性黏土固沙保水性能较好。研究结果可为固沙材料的改进应用提供参考。     

基于主成分分析红壤有效含水量估算模型

季节性干旱是南方红壤地区农业可持续发展面临的关键科学问题,土壤有效含水量是评价土壤对植物给水能力的重要因子之一。该文以红壤为研究对象,在江西省采集了34个红壤样品,测定了土壤田间持水量、永久萎蔫系数、有机质含量、土壤容重、土粒密度和土壤质地组成(砂粒,粉砂粒和黏粒)的百分含量等土壤物理参数,并对这些因子进行主成分分析,建立经验回归模型,相关系数为0.87。结果表明：区域红壤有效含水量可以通过土壤物理参数估算,通过主成分分析等统计方法对于大面积估算土壤有效含水量是可行的。     

Field performance of three real-time moisture sensors in sandy loam and clay loam soils

The study was conducted to evaluate HydraProbe (HyP), Campbell Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and Watermarks (WM) moisture sensors for their ability to estimate water content based on calibrated neutron probe (NP) measurements. The three sensors were in-situ tested under natural weather conditions over a 3-yr period in a sandy loam and clay loam soils planted to grass. The HyP, TDR and WM sensors were evaluated for their ability to estimate soil moisture contents by comparing their outputs with those of NP measurements. Results showed that HyP, TDR and WM provided different estimates of soil moisture contents in both soils. Nevertheless, our work suggests that soil moisture sensors including those used in this study can be made suitable for irrigation scheduling without in-situ calibrations by simply setting the upper and lower irrigation trigger limits for each sensor and each soil type. The upper trigger point occurs directly after irrigation event (near field capacity) and the lower trigger point is based on about 50% depletion of available water in the crop rootzone and is occurs prior to irrigation refill. This approach can significantly help irrigators to achieve their irrigation scheduling and productivity goals without consuming any time onsite or soil specific calibrations.     

2种高分子保水材料对土壤持水能力的影响

采用离心机法,研究聚丙烯酸钠与聚丙烯酰胺2种高分子化合物在5种使用浓度（占干土质量0、0．01％、0．08％、0．2％与1％）的条件下对3种土壤（砂土、壤土、黏土）持水能力的影响。结果表明：3种土壤在0．01—1．5MPa水吸力时,持水能力随着2种高分子材料用量的增加而增加,砂土的作用效果较壤土、黏土更显著;2种高分子材料与土壤质量比控制在8／10000～2／1000范围内其作用效果较好,该用量条件下高分子吸持水分平均可释放83．7％供植物吸收利用。2种高分子材料对土壤持水能力的作用效果基本相同。     

Water retention properties of a sandy soil with superabsorbent polymers as affected by aging and water quality

Hydraulic properties, specifically the water holding capacity of soils, play a key role in the ability of soils to sustain plant growth. Additions of hydrophilic polymers (superabsorbents) can improve the water holding capacity of sandy soils. This has led to practical applications of these materials particularly in arid regions and countries, where water is the limiting factor for plant production. The objectives of this study are to investigate how effective hydraulic properties of polymer‐soil mixtures are affected by addition of absorbents in different concentrations. Novel aspects are the investigation of aging under repeated wetting–drying‐cycles over an appreciable time in the field and a systematic investigation of the salt influence on the water uptake of polymers. We added the polymer Super AB, A‐200 (Iran Polymer Institute), to dune sand in ratios of 0.3%, 0.6%, and 1% w/w. We found that the effective water retention characteristics of the soil–absorbent mixtures were improved with respect to plant‐available water compared to the pure sand, and the improvement was related to the respective amount of absorbent in the mixture. The plant available water content (PAW) increased from 0.005 for the untreated sand to 0.06, 0.20, and 0.28 g g^?1, respectively, for the sand with the three polymer additions. Due to aging of the polymers, PAW decreased after 6 months of cyclic drying and wetting to about half of the value immediately after the initial treatment. We attribute this to the effect of salts. This is corroborated by the results from water uptake experiments by the pure polymers. Repeated cycles of water uptake showed that salts in the water greatly reduced the uptake capacity of the polymers after few cycles. The effect was strong for bivalent cations and less pronounced for monovalent cations.     

生物质炭配施木灰对石灰性土壤固碳和微生物群落的影响

为探讨生物质炭配施木灰对土壤碳固存和微生物群落的影响,通过118 d的室内培养试验,研究了单施生物质炭(B)、生物质炭配施木灰(B+W)处理下土壤碳固存、化学性质、酶活性、微生物群落组成的变化.结果表明:B、B+W处理均降低了CO2-C释放速率和累积释放量,且B+W处理推迟CO2释放速率峰值的出现;B、B+W处理均能提...     

施用绿肥条件下减施化肥对土壤养分及持水供水能力的影响

以长期定位试验为基础,设置7个紫云英和化肥施用配比试验处理,以探索施用绿肥情况下减施化肥对土壤养分、持水和供水能力的影响。结果表明:在翻压紫云英条件下,即使不施化肥土壤氮也可基本得到满足,应适量施用化学钾肥,必须合理施用磷肥,以保证土壤全量和速效养分得到平衡和持续供给,化肥施用量减少未显著降低水稻产量;土壤持水、供水能力在处理间的趋势表现为:紫云英+40%化肥紫云英+60%化肥紫云英+80%化肥、紫云英+100%化肥单施100%化肥、单施紫云英CK,与CK相比,其它6个处理田间持水量提高了1.6%~15.4%,有效含水量增幅更大,平均提高1.5%~30.5%,说明紫云英化肥配施能显著提高土壤的持水、供水能力,且化肥施用量越少效果越好,而单施化肥或单施紫云英效果有限。因此,紫云英施用量一定时(22 500 kg/hm~2),化肥施用量应减少至40%甚至更低。     

不同类型层状土壤持水能力的研究

为了了解不同类型层状土柱持水能力,利用砂土和砂黄土2种土壤,设置3种不同厚度分层土柱(11.25、22.5、45 cm)和2种匀质对照土柱,测定了土柱自初始饱和条件下的排水过程;同时利用匀质土柱测定结果标定2种土壤水力参数,通过Hydrus-1D模型对不同类型层状土柱排水过程进行模拟分析,获得了不同类型层状土柱的田间持水量。结果表明,层状土柱持水能力随着分层厚度的减小而增加,当分层厚度减小到一定程度时土柱持水能力不再随着分层厚度的减小而增加,该临界厚度取决于下层粗质土壤对上层细质土的吸力与上层细质土壤进气吸力之间的相对大小。本试验所用2种土壤分层临界厚度大约在5 cm左右;土柱失水主要来自下层较粗质地土壤,由饱和时的0.385 cm~3/cm~3减小到0.04 cm~3/cm~3。上层细质土壤含水量随着分层厚度的减小而增加。研究结果可为干旱半干旱地区矿区恢复和污染物填埋提供理论指导。     

Integral energy of conventional available water, least limiting water range and integral water capacity for better characterization of water availability and soil physical quality

Different approaches have been proposed for quantification of soil water availability for plants but mostly they do not fully describe how water is released from the soil to be absorbed by the plant roots. A new concept of integral energy (E_I) was suggested by Minasny and McBratney (Minasny, B., McBratney, A.B. 2003. Integral energy as a measure of soil-water availability. Plant and Soil 249, 253-262) to quantify the energy required for plants to take up a unit mass of soil water over a defined water content range. This study was conducted to explore the E_I concept in association with other new approaches for soil water availability including the least limiting water range (LLWR) and the integral water capacity (IWC) besides conventional plant available water (PAW). We also examined the relationship between E_I and Dexter's index of soil physical quality (S-value). Twelve agricultural soils were selected from different regions in Hamadan province, western Iran. Soil water retention and penetration resistance, Q, were measured on undisturbed samples taken from the 5-10 cm layer. The PAW, LLWR and IWC were calculated with two matric suctions (h) of 100 and 330 hPa for field capacity (FC), and then the E_I values were calculated for PAW, LLWR and IWC. There were significant differences (P < 0.01) between the E_I values calculated for PAW₁₀₀, PAW₃₃₀, LLWR₁₀₀, LLWR₃₃₀ and IWC. The highest (319.0 J kg⁻¹) and the lowest (160.7 J kg⁻¹) means of E_I were found for the E_I(IWC) and E_I(PAW330), respectively. The E_I values calculated for PAW₁₀₀, LLWR₁₀₀ and LLWR₃₃₀ were 225.6, 177.9 and 254.1 J kg⁻¹, respectively. The mean value of E_I(PAW330) was almost twice as large as the mean of E_I(IWC) showing that IWC is mostly located at lower h values when compared with PAW₃₃₀. Significant relationships were obtained between E_I(IWC) and h at Q = 1.5 MPa, and E_I(LLWR100) or E_I(LLWR330) and h at Q = 2 MPa indicating strong dependency of E_I on soil strength in the dry range. We did not find significant relationships between E_I(PAW100) or E_I(PAW330) and bulk density (ρ_b) or relative ρ_b (ρ_b-rel). However, E_I(LLWR100) or E_I(LLWR330) was negatively and significantly affected by ρ_b and ρ_b-rel. Both E_I(PAW100) and E_I(PAW330) increased with increasing clay content showing that a plant must use more energy to absorb a unit mass of PAW from a clay soil than from a sandy soil. High negative correlations were found between E_I(PAW100) or E_I(PAW330) and the shape parameter (n) of the van Genuchten function showing that soils with steep water retention curves (coarse-textured or well-structured) will have lower E_I(PAW). Negative and significant relations between E_I(PAW100) or E_I(PAW330) and S were obtained showing the possibility of using S to predict the energy that must be used by plants to take up a unit mass of water in the PAW range. Our findings show that E_I can be used as an index of soil physical quality in addition to the PAW, LLWR, IWC and S approaches.