Climate change has exacerbated the frequency and duration of droughts. To sustain food production in such conditions, water storage and retention capacity of soil must be enhanced. Development of water-absorbing polymer (WAP) from coal carbon residue (fly ash) can provide an economical and environmentally friendly alternative to commercial WAP for enhancing water retention and crop yield. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the growth performance of tomato species (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under continued drought conditions in the presence of in-house developed fly ash-based WAP (FA-WAP) against that of commercially available WAP (Com-WAP). Quantification of the soil-water retention curve (SWRC) revealed an increase in plant wilting time and plant-available water content (PAWC) in the order: control soil (no amendment) < Com-WAP-amended soil < FA-WAP-amended soil. Both the WAPs positively influenced the transpiration factors of crops in terms of stomatal conductance (SC) and photosynthetic yield under continued drought conditions. The yield parameters (i.e., the number of fruits, total weight, and shoot fresh biomass) increased by 82, 106, and 115%, respectively, in the case of FA-WAP-amended soil as compared with that of the control. Nevertheless, FA-WAP provided 20% higher yield of tomato species during continued drought conditions than commercial WAP. The application of FA-WAP can be an effective strategy to impart beneficial usage of FA waste by significantly reducing the irrigation
The effect of climate/environmental change has resulted in adverse water stress conditions which necessitates the sustainable approaches for improving the water use efficiency to boost agricultural production in Central Asia. Water-absorbing polymer (WAP) has emerged as one of the amendments for soil water stress management. WAP are chemically cross-linked structure capable of absorbing and storing a large amount of water. The agricultural land has different levels of fertilizers which can influence the performance of WAP because of its sensitivity due to external ionic medium. Therefore, the combined or hybrid use of WAP and organic/ inorganic fertilizers may inhibit the functionality of WAP, which needs to be thoroughly investigated. This study demonstrates the performance of two different WAPs (a commercially WAP (crosslinked potassium polyacrylate) and a laboratory synthesized WAP (crosslinked fly ash-polyacrylate superabsorbent composite)) with varying combinations of fertilizers in silt loam (agrarian soil). The combined use of fertilizers and WAP have improved the water retention properties of soils due to modification in the soil pore volume for both the WAPs. Quantification from water retention properties revealed a significant increase in plant wilting time (PWT) and plant available water content (PAWC) under the combined influence of fertilizers and WAP amended soils, indicating the possibility of high-water availability to plant roots. The study suggests the potential of WAPs as an efficient soil conditioner even in the presence of fertilizer for countering the negative impacts of water stress conditions. WAPs might minimize the requirement for chemical fertilizers, which helps to enhance the climate/environmental change and agriculture sector in the Central Asian region.
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