S698 : Soil Structure Improvement Using Biochar in the Presence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Water Repellent Soil
Thesis > Central Library of Shahrood University > Agricultural Engineering > MSc > 2023
Authors:
Armita Aminzade [Author], Vajiheh Dorostkar[Supervisor], Hamid Reza Asghari[Supervisor]
Abstarct: Following successive droughts in Iran, water Repellency (WR) has intensified in recent years, and with increasing water repellent soil, water retention and its infiltration into the soil decreases. The increase in erosion and changes in soil structure with the reduction of fertility and plant growth have also created significant problems in agriculture and land management. In the present study, the simultaneous effect of sugarcane biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the improvement of water repellent and non-water repellent soil structure and also the growth of corn plant has been investigated. The present study was conducted as a factorial greenhouse experiment with two factors including arbuscular fungi and biochar in two water repellent and non-water repellent soil. First, the water repellency was determined by the drop penetration time method, and then the percentage of hyphae formation in the root was calculated. Organic matter, dilute acid extractable carbohydrates, basic microbial respiration, total and easily extractable soil glomalin were also measured in both studied soils. To measure the soil structure, the high-energy soil moisture characteristic curve method was used. The results indicated that in both water repellent and non-water repellent soils, the interaction of fungi and biochar had a significant positive effect on the root dry weight of corn plant, soil organic matter, microbial respiration, carbohydrates and soil glomalin. Organic matter in non-hydrophobic soil with 2% biochar and the presence of fungi increased by 155% compared to the control and by 94% in the absence of fungi. Carbohydrate concentration in biochar and mushroom presence in hydrophobic and non-hydrophobic soil increased by 144 and 147%, respectively. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi significantly increased the volume of drainable pores (fast wetting), ratio of volume of drainable pores, stability index (fast), physical quality index (fast), and also the ratio of physical quality index in both soils. Also, biochar has increased the volume of drainable pores (fast) and physical quality index (fast) in both soils. The interaction effect of fungi and biochar in water repelent soil significantly increased the volume of drainable pores in the state of rapid wetting. The stability index in non-hydrophobic soil was improved by 67.4% in the presence of fungi and by 67% with 2% biochar. It seems that in water repellent soil, due to the reduction of water infiltration between soil particles, the highest amount of soil structure stability can be seen in the parameter of high-energy moisture characteristic curve (HEMC).  
Keywords:
#soil structure #water repellency #biochar #arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi #High energy moisture characteristic curve Keeping place: Central Library of Shahrood University
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