Water Retention and Pore Size Distribution of a Biopolymeric-Amended Loam Soil

Autor: Mehdi Rahmati, Andreas Pohlmeier, Sara Mola Ali Abasiyan, Lutz Weihermüller, Harry Vereecken
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Vadose Zone Journal, Vol 18, Iss 1 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1539-1663
DOI: 10.2136/vzj2018.11.0205
Popis: The pore size distribution (PSD) of biopolymeric-amended soils is rarely investigated due to difficulties in its quantification using classical methods. In this study, we analyzed the impact of biopolymeric soil amendments on the PSD of a dryland loamy soil based on its physical and biological properties using a completely randomized design with four treatments consisting of two different dosages (10 and 5 g kg) of two different biopolymers, (chitosan [CH] and Arabic gum [AG]) plus a reference soil. To determine the effects of CH and AG on the PSD, nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry (NMRR) measurements were used to determine the longitudinal () and transversal () relaxation times. A set of soil structure–related characteristics was also determined in the laboratory. The results revealed that spectra provided a good proxy to determine the PSD, showing good agreement between the PSD from spectra and that calculated from the water retention curve (WRC) ( > 0.78; RMSE
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