Water accumulation in soil by gravel and sand mulches: Influence of textural composition and thickness of mulch layers

Ma, Yifan; Li, X.-Y.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2010.12.017

Cited by 39 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In field agriculture, to restrain water loss and increase water storage through surficial protective covering, water-retaining mulches (e.g., crop straw, gravel sand, and plastic film) are laid on the ground [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. However, a high volume of straw on the ground may hinder activity, causing difficulties in sowing [17], and long-term sand coverage may destroy cultivated soils, largely through soil desertification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects on Infiltration and Evaporation When Adding Rapeseed-Oil Residue or Wheat Straw to a Loam Soil

Xing

2017

Water

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Abstract:The application of additives (e.g., wheat straw (WS) or rapeseed-oil residue (RR)) to soils is a common agronomic practice, used for improving soil water retention. Through a laboratory investigation, this study examined the effects of RR and WS on infiltration, evaporation, water distribution, and water retention. The results indicated that the migration rate of the wetting front, as well as the accumulative infiltration and evaporation, decreased with the amount of applied additives. RR was more effective than WS for infiltration and evaporation suppression. Furthermore, in the Kostiakov model, the value of a decreased with an increasing amount of additive, becoming smaller than the corresponding control treatment (CK) value; by contrast, the value of n decreased with increasing amount of applied additive, remaining larger than the CK value. In the Rose model, the values of A for the soils mixed with additives were smaller than those of the CK, and decreased with increasing amount of additive. Moreover, compared with the CK, the maximum water content for the RR-applied soils increased by 17.84% after infiltration and by 47.66% after evaporation. In addition, the water retention coefficients (calculated as the soil moisture after evaporation divided by that after infiltration) for soils mixed with RR were the highest, indicating that RR is more effective than WS for improving the water retention of the soil layer.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects on Infiltration and Evaporation When Adding Rapeseed-Oil Residue or Wheat Straw to a Loam Soil

Xing

2017

Water

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“…In contrast when the residue is buried, there is a fast improvement of soil quality, but at the beginning its capacity to protect the soil surface seems less efficient. It is also clear that the best way to apply it to the soil and the precise incorporation rate are the keys to success (El Kateb et al, 2013;Ma and Li, 2011;Mashingaidze et al, 2012;Singh et al, 1994;Lee et al, 2013;Jiménez et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bakr et al (2012) found that, in relation to soil losses, the effectiveness is lower in tilled soils than in soils with superficial application, whereas Abdelkadir and Yimer (2011) revealed the suitability of breaking the compacted superficial layer to increase the infiltration rate in loamy soils. There is a close relationship between erosion and the protective layer of mulch, but there are several authors like Jin et al (2008), Ma and Li (2011) and Thierfelder and Wall (2009) who indicated that the degree of effectiveness depends largely on soil permeability, percentage of soil surface cover, SOC, and also the interactions among the variables. Findeling et al (2003) and Le Bissonnais et al (2005) highlighted that the soil behavior under the rainfall thunderstorms is strongly influenced by compaction and surface crusting, and it is regardless of the specific quality of soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coffee husk mulch on soil erosion and runoff: experiences under rainfall simulation experiment

Moreno-Ramón¹,

Quizembe²,

Ibáñez-Asensio³

2014

Solid Earth

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Abstract. The high erosion rates found in the agriculture land make valuable the use of mulches to control the soil and water losses. Coffee husk (Coffea canephora var. robusta) can be one of those mulches. This paper evaluates how to apply the mulch in order to obtain the best effectiveness. An experimental factorial design 4 × 3 × 2 with two replicates was designed in a greenhouse with a total number of 48 cases. All the samples were deposited in trays of 0.51 m 2 and applied a simulated rain of 122 mm h −1 during 21 min. The factors examined were the following: four soil classes; three treatments -buried (B), surface (S) and non-residue (C) -and the presence (WC) or absence (WOC) of the soil surface crusting. The coffee husk residue (S and B treatments) reduced runoff by 10.2 and 46 % respectively, soil losses by 78.3 and 88.7 % and sediment concentration by 77 and 84.4 %. The infiltration rate increased on average by 104 and 167 %, and time to runoff by 1.58 and 2.07 min respectively. Coffee husk is an efficient mulch to reduce the soil and water losses, although it could not completely cushion the influence of crust.

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“…impeding, diverting or even stopping the movement across the interface between these zones. CBs have been extensively studied and utilized by geotechnical engineers, soil physicists and agronomists (Ross, 1990;Morel-Seytoux, 1993;Kämpf et al, 1998;Mallants et al, 1999;Stormont and Anderson, 1999;Khire et al, 2000;Bussiere et al, 2003;Francis et al, 2007;Ma and Li, 2011). For example, a designed layered heterogeneity (fine over coarse layers) is widely used in landfill covers to divert infiltration of a descending leachate away from certain subsurface zones where intensive vertical water fluxes are unwanted (Stormont and Morris, 1997) and in various types of mulching when the ascending evaporative fluxes are impeded by a coarse gravel or sand layer, date palm litter and other plant residues on the topsoil (Lightfoot, 1996;Yuan et al, 2009;Huang, 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

Soil substrate as a cascade of capillary barriers for conserving water in a desert environment: lessons learned from arid nature

et al. 2014

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Interaction between soil pedogenesis, subsurface water dynamics, climate, vegetation and human ingenuity in a desert environment has been found to result in a unique ecohydrological system with an essentially three dimensional sedimentation structure in the bed of a recharge dam in Oman. A 3-D array of silt blocks sandwiched by dry sand-filled horizontal and vertical fractures was studied in pot experiments as a model of a natural prototype. Pots are filled with a homogenous sand-silt mixture (control) or artificially structured (smart design, SD) soil substrates. Rhodes grass and ivy (Ipomea, Convolvulaceae) were grown in the pots during the hottest season in Oman. Soil moisture content (SMC) was measured at different depths over a period of 20 days without irrigation. SD preserved the SMC of the root zone for both ivy and grass (SMC of around 25%-30% compared to <10% for control, 3 days after the last irrigation). Even after 20 days, SMC was around 18% in the SD and 7% in the control. This, similar to the case of a natural prototype, is attributed to the higher upward capillary movement of water in control pots and intensive evaporation. The capillary barrier of sand sheaths causes discontinuity in moisture migration from the micro-pores in the silt blocks to sand pores. The blocks serve as capillarity-locked water buffers, which are depleted at a slow rate by transpiration rather than evaporation from the soil surface. This creates a unique ecosystem with a dramatic difference in vegetation between SD-pots and control pots. Consequently, the Noy-Meir edaphic factor, conceptualizing the ecological impact of 1-D vertical heterogeneity of desert soils, should be generalized to incorporate 3-D soil heterogeneity patterns. This agro-engineering control of the soil substrate and soil moisture distribution and dynamics (SMDaD) can be widely used by desert farmers as a cheap technique, with significant savings of irrigation water.

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Water accumulation in soil by gravel and sand mulches: Influence of textural composition and thickness of mulch layers

Cited by 39 publications

References 31 publications

Effects on Infiltration and Evaporation When Adding Rapeseed-Oil Residue or Wheat Straw to a Loam Soil

Effects on Infiltration and Evaporation When Adding Rapeseed-Oil Residue or Wheat Straw to a Loam Soil

Coffee husk mulch on soil erosion and runoff: experiences under rainfall simulation experiment

Soil substrate as a cascade of capillary barriers for conserving water in a desert environment: lessons learned from arid nature

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