Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Temporal variation of soil hydraulic parameters under different land uses

Author(s):

Kamran Zeinalzadeh ¹, Heidar Ali Kashkuli ², Abd Ali Naseri ¹, Reza Dadmehr ³

Recieved Date: 2011-01-18, Accepted Date: 2011-03-22

Abstract:

Soil hydraulic conductivity (K) and the pore size distribution parameter, Gardner α, are important hydraulic parameters for understanding some aspects of unsaturated soil water flow. These parameters vary with time as well as spatial position. For investigating these changes, field measurements using disc infiltrometer were performed repeatedly over time. Disc infiltration experiments at pressure heads of -15, -10, -6, -4, -3 and 0 cm were conducted three times from June to August 2009 on four fields under different land uses as winter barley, silage single cross corn, apple orchard and unused bare land in agricultural fields of Urmia university, Iran. Five replicate sequences of infiltration rate tests were performed for each measurement set and land use. The clay textured soil in all of the fields was classified as Inceptisol. The study was conducted employing split plot in time experiment. Results of ANOVA showed that land use, time and the relative contributions of these two factors had significant impact at one percent level on K values (except at pressure head of -15 cm). At pressure head of -15 cm, the average K displayed significant variation at five percent level. Gardner α had significant difference at one percent level with respect to land use and time but showed no significant difference at five percent level with respect to the relative contributions of both. Therefore, land use and time showed the least impact on K15. During the measurement period at the barley field, the apple orchard, and the bare land, the average K at the applied pressure heads displayed an increasing trend from June to August. In the aforesaid land uses, increasing rate of K values decreased with decreasing pressure heads. This temporal variation had the least increase in K15 values. On the contrary, the average K at the corn field had a falling trend during this study. For this land use, variation rate between the measurement sets was very low. Results of this study showed that the initial soil moisture has an important role on the rate of temporal variation of soil K.

Keywords:

Soil hydraulic parameters, disc infiltrometer, temporal variability, land use

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2011
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Category: Environment
Pages: 693-698

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