Effect of Clay Amendment on Water Retention in Sandy Soil of Arid Southeastern Tunisia areas

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Effect of Clay Amendment on Water Retention in Sandy Soil of Arid Southeastern Tunisia areas

Author Affiliations

¹ Institute of arid regions/4100 Mednine/Tunisia, TUNISIA
² Universities of Tunisia/ National Agronomic Institute of Tunis, TUNISIA

Int. Res. J. Earth Sci., Volume 3, Issue (6), Pages 1-4, June,25 (2015)

Abstract

This work aims to study the clay amendment effect on the water conservation in sandy soils in arid areas.It was led on crop pots containing sandy soil enriched with different rates of clay powder or gravel (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%).The used sandy soil is from the region of El Fje in Medenine (in the Southeastern part of Tunisia). The used Clay amendment consists of bentonite. Its provenance is from El Jebel Hidoudi in El Hamma of Gabes (in the Southeastern part of Tunisia).The obtained results show that the addition of clay increases the water reserve available to plants; this effect is clearly tangible only for clay percentage that exceeds 5%. Starting from this rate, the gain in useful water reserve relative to the non-amended soil is even more important when the rate of amendment is higher. The gain provided by amendment with gravel clay is slightly better than amendment with clay powder.

References

Belgacem B., Contribution to the study of bonus sandy soils by clay amendment, RdMemory cycle, Univ. of Tunis (1986)
Bousnina H., Improvements water regime of sandy soils of arid by clay amendment (Study in an oasis of southern Tunisia), These in soil science, Univ. Giant Belgium (1993)
Ben Hassine H., Mineralogical nature and nutritional role of clays grain flooring sub-humid to semi-arid (Tunisia), C, R. Geosciences, 329-340 (2006)
Christian J., Role skeletal organization in the soil, Impact on the characteristics of the pore space of soil on arenas and on river terraces, thesis of Science, Univ. Dijon, (1986)
Assouline S., Tessier D. and Bruand A., A conceptual model of the soil water retention curve, Water Resources;34, 223-231 (1998)
Bousnina H., Mhiri A. and Hamed C., Effect of clay in water retention in sandy soils; Sechresse(1997)
Gras R., Effect of coarse elements on the dynamics of water in the sandy soil I, Behaviour of coarse porous vis-à-vis water elements. Ann. Agron, 23(2), 247-316 (1972)

[ref1] Belgacem B., Contribution to the study of bonus sandy soils by clay amendment, RdMemory cycle, Univ. of Tunis (1986)

[ref2] Bousnina H., Improvements water regime of sandy soils of arid by clay amendment (Study in an oasis of southern Tunisia), These in soil science, Univ. Giant Belgium (1993)

[ref3] Ben Hassine H., Mineralogical nature and nutritional role of clays grain flooring sub-humid to semi-arid (Tunisia), C, R. Geosciences, 329-340 (2006)

[ref4] Christian J., Role skeletal organization in the soil, Impact on the characteristics of the pore space of soil on arenas and on river terraces, thesis of Science, Univ. Dijon, (1986)

[ref5] Assouline S., Tessier D. and Bruand A., A conceptual model of the soil water retention curve, Water Resources;34, 223-231 (1998)

[ref6] Bousnina H., Mhiri A. and Hamed C., Effect of clay in water retention in sandy soils; Sechresse(1997)

[ref7] Gras R., Effect of coarse elements on the dynamics of water in the sandy soil I, Behaviour of coarse porous vis-à-vis water elements. Ann. Agron, 23(2), 247-316 (1972)