to reduce peat while increasing the water holding capacity (whc) of casing soil in button mushroom production an experiment was conducted in 2006 with three hydrogel treatments of: t0= casing soil with no hydrogel, as control, t1= casing soil + 10% hydrogel (v/v), and t2= casing soil + 20% hydrogel (v/v) with three replicates in a completely randomized design. results indicated that treatment 1...

Rangeland degradation is one of the global concerns affecting the pastoralists and those who suffer from its negative environmental consequences. Grazing exclosure has been extensively used among the techniques implemented by the government to protect the fertility of threatened rangelands. The impact of exclosure has been a controversial issue; therefore, it is important to understand its effe...

during the croatian homeland war in 1991, the capacitor batteries of the zadar electric powersubstation (ts 110/35 kv) were damaged, resulting in the severe pollution of the soil with polychlorinatedbiphenyls (pcbs). due to porosity of karstic soil pcbs represent great environmental and human health risksthat need some action. the polluted soil was collected and an experimental field was formed...

Some landslides move imperceptibly downslope, whereas others accelerate catastrophically. Experimental landslides triggered by rising pore water pressure moved at sharply contrasting rates due to small differences in initial porosity. Wet sandy soil with porosity of about 0.5 contracted during slope failure, partially liquefied, and accelerated within 1 second to speeds over 1 meter per second....

abstract agriculture is the largest consumer of water resources in iran. one of the best options for increasing the irrigation efficiency and better application of precipitation in arid and semi-arid areas is employing of superabsorbent polymers to soil. polymers can absorb rain and irrigation water, decrease deep percolation and increase water use efficiency. in order to investigate the effect...

Abstract. In this paper we derive a model for the diffusion of strongly sorbed solutes in soil taking into account diffusion within both the soil fluid phase and the soil particles. The model takes into account the effect of solutes being bound to soil particle surfaces by a reversible nonlinear reaction. Effective macroscale equations for the solute movement in the soil are derived using homog...

Drought is a great concern in agricultural production, because it restricts normal plant growth, brings about enormous economic loss and deteriorates ecological environment. Proper use of super absorbent polymers (SAP) is helpful in the agricultural and horticultural industry in arid and semi-arid areas, because SAP can ease the burden of water shortage. Because porosity is one of the most impo...

The objective of this paper is to report the cumulative effects of cropping system intensification on the near surface soil physical properties (surface one inch of soil) within the Colorado dryland agroecoystem project, which has been in existence since 1986. Intensifying cropping systems from wheat-fallow to wheat-com-fallow to continuous cropping, increased crop residue return to the soil. R...

Agricultural soils of selected regions of Southwestern Karnataka, Peninsular India, were subjected to systematic mineralogical characterization along with the study of soil physical properties. Physical properties such as soil texture and micro porosity were studied using particle size analyses and positron annihilation lifetime analysis (PALS) technique, respectively. The latter was used to an...

To understand the hydraulic properties of soils, accurate prediction of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is needed which is commonly derived from the soil water release characteristic. In fine-textured soils the modified Mualem-van Genuchten (MMVG) function has been used extensively to predict the change in relative conductivity with changes in matric potential, but this assumes that the soil...