FOURTH LAB REPORT : IMPATIENS BALSAMINA




ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL SCIENCE LAB FOUR REPORT
SOIL SALINITY TEST: ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY TEST


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (HS11)
SS11403 ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL SCIENCE
YEAR ONE SEMESTER 2 2017/2018

LECTURER: MDM. DIANA DEMIYAH
NAME
MATRIC NUMBER
CHAN CHU YIN
BS17110446
CHOW YIAN PENG
BS17110592
DARREN NETANIEL ERIC ROGERS
BS17110402
MIMORI SOGA
BS17270765
NUR AISYIKIN BINTI ABDULLAH
BS17160683
NUR DINIE DAYANA BINTI MOHAMAD RAFI
BS17110064



INTRODUCTION

What is soil salinity all about? This term is broadly used to show or describe the content of the salt in the soil. Salt usually known originated from the sea as it salt’s content in it is high, but where the salt in the soil came from? Salt is a naturally occurring mineral within soil and water that affects the growth and vitality of plants. Although some salt is a necessity for plant growth, too much salt will result in a plant that suffers from dehydration, yield decline, or death. This salinity of soil can be affected by some factors influenced by the human activities; their daily activities. When the salt content becomes high, the soil becomes sodic soil and not very good for growth and crop production.
          Salinization is the process when water-soluble salts accumulate and increase of its content in the soil. This process can make impacts on environmental health, agricultural production and economics. In primary stages, the salinity affects the metabolism of soil organisms and reduces the soil productivity, then a more dangerous impact occurs when this process continues; destroying all vegetation and the living organisms living in the soil. When planting in soil that may have a high saline content, it is important to know the salinity tolerance of individual crops.
          There are some experiments is conducted to measure the soil salinity. Soil salinity is tested by measure its electrical conductivity (EC). The salt is extracted by using two methods; filtration with ratio and by using the vacuum pump. Then, the water extracted from the soil is measured by using conductivity meter and its probe.

AIM
The aim of this experiment is finding the best soil that can planted the plant due to the high content of salt within the soil.

OBJECTIVES
1.    To investigate the salinity status of the soil
2.    To determine the characteristics of soil
3.    To determine the electric conductivity of each soil

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS
  • 5 types of air dried soil samples (Sand soil from ODEC, mangrove soil, FSSA lake soil, black soil, soil from Tanah Bukit)
  • Less than 2mm mesh size sieve (we used 1mm one)
  • 200ml glass beaker
  • Spatula
  • Distilled water
  • Vacuum pump
  • Laboratory flask
  • Graduated cylinder
  • Size 42 Whatman filter paper
  • Bottle container
  • Electric conductivity meter

PROCEDURES
  1. Air dried soil samples for Tanah Bukit that have less than 2mm size is prepared.
  2. 2mm mesh size sieve is used manually.
  3. Soil samples of Tanah Bukit are checked to make sure there are no contain of roots, bark and stones.
  4. Distilled water is used to make a saturated paste for each of our 100g of air dried soil sample of Tanah Bukit.
  5. Distilled water is used again to make a combination of 25g of Tanah Bukit and water with another Tanah Bukit with ratio 1:1, 1:2, and 1:5.
  6. The mixer is stir for 10 minutes.


Vacuum Pump
  1. 42 Whatman filter paper is put first on the funnel before the saturated plate is put.
  2. The water is extracted using the vacuum pump.
  3. The filtrate in a bottle container with label is kept.
  4. The electrical conductivity is measured.
  5. The probe with distilled water is rinsed every time we measured using different soil samples.



RESULTS

Ratio 1:1
Soils
Conductivity (µS)
Average
Temperature
(℃)
Average
Volume (mL)
Black soil
1736.0
1698.0
1696.0
1710.0
24.1
24.1
24.1
24.1
25.0
Mangrove
12310.0
11760.0
11820.0
11963.3
23.3
23.5
23.6
23.5
25.0
Hills soil
33.5
24.8
27.4
28.6
23.6
23.9
23.8
23.8
25.0
Fssa soil
89.4
79.7
90.7
86.6
22.7
22.8
22.7
22.7
25.0
Odec soil
88.6
87.1
87.8
87.8
23.2
23.4
23.6
23.4
25.0
Table 1: Electrical conductivity of 5 different type of soils on 1:1 ratio


Ratio 1:2
Soils
Conductivity (µS)
Average
Temperature
(℃)
Average
Volume (mL)
Black soil
1775.0
1732.0
1784.0
1763.7
23.2
23.3
23.2
23.2
50.0
Mangrove
13920.0
13750.0
13930.0
13866.7
23.3
23.3
23.3
23.3
50.0
Hills soil
18.2
17.9
17.8
17.9
23.0
23.0
23.1
23.0
50.0
Fssa soil
60.3
61.7
59.9
60.6
22.7
22.7
22.8
22.7
50.0
Odec soil
116.7
117.0
117.2
117.0
23.4
23.4
23.1
23.3
50.0














Table 2: Electrical conductivity of 5 different type of soils on 1:2 ratio

Ratio 1:5
Soils
Conductivity(µS)
Average
Temperature
(℃)
Average
Volume (mL)
Black soil
804.0
816.0
816.0
812.0
22.9
22.7
22.7
22.8
125.0
Mangrove
6570.0
6570.0
6580.0
6573.3
23.0
22.9
22.9
22.9
125.0
Hills soil
23.1
23.5
23.3
23.3
23.1
23.1
23.2
23.1
125.0
Fssa soil
62.6
63.4
61.3
62.4
22.6
22.6
22.6
22.6
125.0
Odec soil
103.4
104.0
104.2
103.9
23.4
23.1
23.3
23.3
125.0
Table 3: Electrical conductivity of 5 different type of soils on 1:5 ratio

Vacuum pump
Soils
Conductivity (µS)
Average
Temperature (℃)
Average
Black soil
1261.0
1259.0
1261.0
1260.3
21.2
22.3
22.3
21.9
Mangrove
4510.0
4420.0
4420.0
4450.0
23.5
24.1
24.4
24.0
Hills soil
241.0
243.0
241.0
241.7
22.2
22.0
21.8
22.0
Fssa soil
314.0
347.0
336.0
332.3
22.7
22.8
22.8
22.8
Odec soil
450.0
445.0
446.0
447.0
21.3
21.4
21.5
21.4
Table 4: Electrical conductivity from 100g of 5 different type of soils after vacuum pumped


DISCUSSION
According to the results, black soil has the highest electrical conductivity (EC) followed by mangrove soil, ODEC soil, FSSA lake soil and last the hill soil (tanah bukit) achieved the lowest EC reading in combination of 1:1 ratio of water with soil sample. For 1:2 and 1:5 ratio of water and soil sample combination filter test, mangrove soil has the highest EC reading while the lowest EC soil remain the same, hill soil. Apart of that, the EC reading for the filtered water from vacuum pump also obtained the same results, which mangroves soil obtained the highest reading and the hill soil has the lowest EC reading. The electrical conductivity of water is a measure of salinity. EC of water estimates the total amount of solids dissolved in the water (Guy, 2013). The higher the EC reading, the higher the contents of saturated mineral, the higher the salinity. Hence, we can conclude that Mangroves is very saline which contained many of saturated mineral. While for the hill soil is non-saline which having the lowest EC reading. Too much of salts will suffer the plant growth so mangrove soil is not suitable to all types of plant. In contrast, hill soil also not suitable to plant growth as it does not contain much nutrient to the plant. Black soil, ODEC soil and FSSA lake soil may more suitable to plant growth because the salinity of the soil is in average.


CONCLUSION

The electrical conductivity analysis is conducted in order to measure the amount of salt in the soil. The electrical conductivity is correlated with dissolved ions. The more ions are dissolved in the soil or water, the higher the electrical conductivity is.
Based on the soil texture and the electrical conductivity analysis, the salinity of soil is determined. Mangrove soil is very saline. Black soil is slightly saline. Soil from FSSA lake, sand soil from ODEC, and soil from Tanah Bukit are non-saline. In terms of salinity, plants are able to grow in the black soil, FSSA lake soil, ODEC soil, and Tanah Bukit soil. However, most of plants cannot grow properly under the very saline condition. Some specific plants like mangrove trees are tolerant with high salinity soil.

REFERENCES

Monica Z. Bruckner (2018, February 14). Water and Soil Characterization - pH and Electrical Conductivity. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/environ_sampling/pH_EC.html

Sela, G. (2013, December 01). Evaluating the Electrical Conductivity of Water. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from https://www.maximumyield.com/evaluating-the-electrical-conductivity-of-water/2/2534

Soil Salinity (2018). Maximum Yield – for Growing Professionals. Retrieved from https://www.maximumyield.com/definition/1895/soil-salinity




APPENDICES



Figure 1: Mangrove’s soils are filtered according to the ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5


Figure 2: A paste is poured into the funnel before the water in the paste is vacuumed out


Figure 3: A set of vacuum pumps


Figure 4: Residue left after the water is vacuumed out

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Lab Report: Cotton

Image
1) Soil Texture INTRODUCTION Soil is a material composed of five ingredients — minerals, soil organic matter, living organisms, gas, and water (Needelman, 2013). Soil performs many essential functions in almost any ecosystems, like farm, forest, marsh and so on. Soil is a natural resource, an amazing substance. Earth is unique because there is dirt on Earth, Mars and Venus do not have soil. The texture and the distribution of mineral particles in the soil are the most important for the soil. Soil texture is an inherent soil quality property (Measuring Soil Texture in the Laboratory, 2018). The percentages of particles in these size classes is called soil texture (Needelman, 2013). Soil texture affects microbial activity by directly affecting water content and the temperature of soil (Chodak et al., 2010). The textural class is also important for soil aggregation and porosity. In addition, soil texture plays a key role in gas exchange (respiration of roots and microor...
Read more

Lab Report 2 : Sengkuang

Image
Second Lab Report : Sengkuang Lecturer: Mdm. Diana Demiyah Mohd Hamdan Group Members : 1.0  INTRODUCTION      Water holding capacity designates the ability of a soil to hold water. It is useful information for irrigation scheduling, crop selection, groundwater contamination considerations, estimating runoff and determining when plants will become stressed. Soil moisture available for plant growth makes up approximately 0.01 percent of the world's stored water. Soil texture and structure greatly influence water infiltration, permeability and water-holding capacity. Soil texture refers to the composition of the soil in terms of the proportion of small, medium and large particles (clay, silt, and sand, respectively) in a specific soil mass. For example, a coarse soil is sand or loamy sand, a medium soil is a loam, silt loam, or silt and a fine soil is a sandy clay, silt clay, or clay. Water holding capacity varies by soil textu...
Read more

First Lab Report: JAGUNG PANDAN (Analysis of Soil Colour and Soil Texture)

Image
Title: Soil Colour and Soil Texture Analysis Lecturer: Dr. Diana Demiyah Mohd Hamdan Date of Submission: 24th March 2018 NAME MATRIC NUMBER SOW XIAO HUI BS17110464 KONG WAN LING BS17110429 AARON CHIN VUI CHANG BS17160670 NURUL NATASYAH BINTI KANAPIA@HANAFIAH BS17110546 NURFATIN SOFEA BINTI MOHD HELMI BS17110574 Soil Colour Analysis 1.0 Introduction The colour of the soil is usually the first thing people notice. Mostly this is just the topsoil but it does not reflect the entire soil. The topsoil is usually darker than lower layers (or horizons) because this is where organic matter accumulates. Soil colour is usually due to 3 main pigments: black—from organic matter, red—from iron and aluminium oxides and white—from silicates and salt. Colour can be a useful indicator of some of the general properties of a soil, as well as some of the chemical processes that are occu...
Read more