Measuring and predicting soil moisture conditions for trafficability

ABSTRACT

The main cause of loss of soil structural stability is vehicle operation on unpaved wet surfaces. Unfortunately, there is a lack of continuous soil moisture data in predicting trafficable conditions. To measure changes in soil moisture conditions in real time, Percostation (Adek) sensors were installed in sandy loam Stagnosol soil at different depths. Problems with soil trafficability can be expected at the plastic limit, and the soil is unable to support vehicle operations at the liquid limit in such soils. The maximum water-holding capacity of the soil is 32%, the field capacity is 25%, the plastic limit is 22%, and the liquid limit is 30%. With rainfall of more than 10?mm d^?1, the moisture content reached the plastic limit in the upper 25?cm of soil. The average increase in the soil moisture content after more than 10?mm of rain was 1–2.5% in a time frame of 2–3 hours. After rain, the previous soil moisture level was obtained within 2 to 3 days in the vegetation period. Measurements also allowed soil water balance and evapotranspiration modelling data to predict soil moisture conditions with an accuracy of one day but failed to predict in a shorter period.     

Lignin content and briquette quality of different fibre hemp plant types and energy sunflower

Fibre hemp and energy sunflower are potential energy crops for production of solid biomass as renewable energy. The current study estimated (i) the lignin content of fibre hemp and energy sunflower plants grown on different nitrogen treatments and (ii) the quality of the briquettes made from different plant types of fibre hemp (i.e. monoecious and dioecious), energy sunflower and the combination of fibre hemp and energy sunflower. The monoecious and dioecious fibre hemp cultivars (Chameleon, Finola and Santhica-27, USO-31, respectively) and the energy sunflower cultivar Wielkopolski were grown in the experimental field in 2008-2010 on Stagnic Luvisol soil. The plants were grown on N treatments of N0, mineral nitrogen (100 kg N ha⁻¹), cattle slurry (100 kg N ha⁻¹), sewage sludge (100 kg N ha⁻¹) and vetch (100 kg N ha⁻¹). Calorific values (16.6-17.4 MJ kg⁻¹) of briquettes pressed from different materials did not differ significantly and had relatively low sulphur (<0.05%) and chlorine content (0.03-0.37%). Briquettes with higher compactness were made from the sunflower and the dioecious hemp. Dioecious hemp had significantly higher lignin content. The dioecious hemp needs lower GDD values for maturating, its stems lignin content was higher than of monoecious hemp by harvest time and therefore this plant type is more suitable for briquetting in Nordic climatic conditions. Comparison of the different N treatments indicated that application of sewage sludge decreased the emergence and density of the fibre hemp plants and the lignin content per kg of DM.