Effects of textural amendment of coarse soils on crop growth and water use

Abstract

The incorporation of pulverised fuel ash and two similar fine-particle amendments, fluidised combustor ash and ground silica sand, to the Ap horizon of coarse-textured soils increased the available-water capacity by up to 70% but had little effect on the yield of lettuce and cauliflower grown in the field. Plants grown on amended soils extracted more water from the surface horizon and less water from depth compared with extraction from unamended soil. As a result total water use by plants from amended and unamended soils was similar. This difference in distribution of water extraction, together with greater evaporation from the soil surface of amended soils, probably explains the poor crop responses to the fine particle amendments.

Impact of marble powder amendment on hydraulic properties of a sandy soil

“…Adding fine particles can change the soil structure and affect soil hydraulic properties (Stone, 1980a(Stone, , 1980bGhodrati et al, 1995;Yunusa et al, 2011). The addition of fine particles to the sandy soil may increase its water-holding capacity.…”