Possibility of Reusing Water Treatment Residue as a Growing Medium of Turfgrass in View of Physical Properties

Improving crop growing conditions with water treatment residual and compost co‐amendments: Soil–water dynamics

“…Particularly at higher loading rates, compost shows a more gradual initial decline in EAW with increasing matric potential than WTR (<25 kPa), supporting the higher water retention capacity (Figure 1; Table 3). Compost has been widely demonstrated to increase soil water retention (Eden et al., 2017; Nyamangara et al., 2001), and WTR has been shown to increase soil water retention conservatively, supporting these results (Kerr et al., 2022; Moodley & Hughes, 2006; Park et al., 2010). In this study, WTR (20W) increased the LAW‐holding capacity more than compost (20C), probably due to more micropore‐bound water within the WTR (Oosterveld & Chang, 1980; Park et al., 2010; Table 3).…”

“…Compost has been widely demonstrated to increase soil water retention (Eden et al., 2017; Nyamangara et al., 2001), and WTR has been shown to increase soil water retention conservatively, supporting these results (Kerr et al., 2022; Moodley & Hughes, 2006; Park et al., 2010). In this study, WTR (20W) increased the LAW‐holding capacity more than compost (20C), probably due to more micropore‐bound water within the WTR (Oosterveld & Chang, 1980; Park et al., 2010; Table 3). This is supported by the trends in gravimetric water content (Figure 1).…”

“…Increasing saturated hydraulic conductivity through sandy soil promotes infiltration and water retention for plant access (Bhardwaj et al., 2007). Dried and crushed WTR aggregates have limited swelling potential, but fine fraction particle sorting decreases soil‐saturated hydraulic conductivity, via decreased pore sizes and high surface areas (Moodley & Hughes, 2006; Park et al., 2010). However, these effects depend on the loading rate and the receiving soil characteristics.…”