Third Lab Report: Pandan Maize Companion

Lecturer: Madam Diana Demiyah Binti Mohd Hamdan

Date of Submission: 10th April 2018

Report Contents:

1.Soil Permeability Analysis

2. Soil Salinity Test-Electrical Conductivity Measurement

SOIL PERMEABILITY ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

The ability of various soils to allow water to move through them depends on several factors. This property called permeability. Soils are permeable materials because of the presence of interconnected voids that permit the flow of fluids from locations of high energy to low energy. For the case of rainfall or irrigation, water moves easily through highly permeable soil and very slow through soil with low soil permeability. Different types of soil have different movement of soil permeability. For example, soil with sandy textures have large pore spaces that allow water to move very quickly through the soil. Sandy soil are known to have high soil permeability that results in high infiltration and good drainage. Clay soil have small pore spaces that cause water to move slowly through the soil. This texture of soil have low soil permeability that results in low infiltration and drainage. Soil permeability is important because it affects the supply of roots-zone air, moisture and nutrients available for plant uptake. 

OBJECTIVES

l  To understand the concept of soil permeability

l  To study the importance of soil permeability

l  To study the porosity of our soil

MATERIAL AND APPARATUS

l  Graduated Cylinders

l  Filter Funnels

l  Test Tubes/Glass Beaker

l  Test Tube Rack

l  Filter Papers

l  Soil Samples

l  Time watch

l  Watercolor paints

PROCEDURES

1.      Test tubes were stood on the test tube rack and filter funnel were prepared on top of test tube.

2.      The filter papers were folded and inserted into filter funnel to prevent soil from dropping into the test tube together with water.

3.      Same amount of two air-dried soil samples for each setup were prepared.

4.      The soil was compacted gently.

5.      Same amount of water (100ml) were prepared to gently pour in each funnel at the same time.

6.      The water was poured to all the soil sample at the same time slowly.

7.      Balance water was added after water is not overflowing in the funnel to finish 100ml of water.

8.      The water volume was measured in the test tube after an hour.

RESULT

Soil sample: FSSA Lake Ground Soil

Formula:

Percolation rate (ml/min) =

Soil sample	Water volume in the test tube (ml)	Percolation rate (ml/min)
1	53	0.88
2	43	0.72
Average	48	0.80

DISCUSSION

The permeability of soil is the measure of how easily water and air can passed through it. Percolation or hydraulic conductivity is refer to the downward movement of water within the soil. The soil sample are Faculty of Science and Natural Resource’s lake ground soil which has an average percolation rate of 0.80 ml min^-1. The permeability of the soil sample is considered as moderate as it is classified as loamy soil through soil textural triangle. It share the properties of sand, silt, and clay thus the smaller grains filled the spaces. Medium-textured loamy soil is suitable for planting, as it has a good balance between small pores that retain a lot of water, and large pores that allow easy movement of air and water. The water in the both test tube does not have any colour, as colour pigments in water are filtered out by the soil. The relative proportions of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter influence how fast water moves through soil and how well water is cleaned. The longer it takes for water to flow through soil, the more time it has to interact with the soil and the cleaner the water becomes. Water moves slowly through clayey soils because the spaces between the individual clay particles are very small. Water flows faster through sandy soils because of the large spaces between sand grains. The shorter time the water has to interact with the soil particles combined with the smaller surface area results in water that is not as clean as the water that flows through the clayey soil. As all of the pots used the same soil, thus the percolation rate for the 5 pots have no distinct differences. As more water filled the pore space, the air is pushed out. When the air in pore spaces in the soil are displaced with water, the soil becomes compact and saturated. Thus, a slightly decrease in the height of soil in the 5 pots is observed after watering the plants everyday with same amount of water. The more standing water on the top part of the soil in the pots also showed the result of soil compaction.  

CONCLUSION

 In conclusion, the soil sample are Faculty of Science and Natural Resource’s lake ground soil which has an average percolation rate of 0.80 ml min^-1. The permeability of the soil sample is considered as moderate as it is classified as loamy soil. Thus, the soil permeability of the soil sample is considered suitable for pandan maize. Sandy soils have high permeability, clay soils have low permeability.

REFERENCES

1.  Amr F.Elhakim. (2016). Estimation of Soil Permeability. Alexandria Engineering   Journal, 55(3), 2631-2638.

2. Plant & Soil Sciences eLibrary. Soils - Part 2: Physical Properties of Soil and Soil Water. Retrived from https://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1130447039&topicorder=10&maxto=10

3. Jeff Ball. (2001). Soil and Water Relationships. Retrived from https://www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2001/september/soil-and-water-relationships/

4. J Mulqueen & M Rodgers. (2000). Percolation testing and hydraulic conductivity of soils for percolation areas. Retrived from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135401001221?via%3Dihub

APPENDIX

Figure 1 shows two soil samples run the experiment with coloured water together at the same time.

SOIL SALINITY TEST - ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT

INTRODUCTION

          Soil are made up of inorganic and organic compounds inclusive of living organisms. Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil and the process of increasing the salt content. The accumulation of water-soluble salts within soil layers above a certain level that adversely affects crop production, environmental health and economic welfare are known also as soil salinization. Soil salinity is one of the most important environmental stressed which has assumed alarming dimensions. Development of salt tolerance in plants remains elusive, due to the multi-genic nature of the trait and its complexity. Cell-types must respond to salt stress individually and co-ordinately, in roots for example, cortical cells need to maximise efflux of sodium and stellar cells maximise influx to minimise transfer of sodium to the xylem stream and the shoot. Soil salinity is described and characterized in terms of the concentration and composition of the soluble salts. All soil types with diverse morphological, physical, chemical and biological properties may be affected by salinization. Soil which contain excessive amounts of salt is often referred as salty or saline soil. Moreover, soil or water which has a high concentration of salt is said to have high salinity.

OBJECTIVE

   1)    To filtrate the saturated paste of FSSA ground soil using the vacuum pump.

   2)    To identify the reading of FSSA ground soil in electric conductivity meter on finding the salinity of soil.

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

·       Air dried soil samples

·       2mm mesh size sieve

·       200ml glass beaker

·       Spatula

·       Distilled water

·       Vacuum pump

·       Laboratory flask

·       Graduated cylinder

·       Size 42 Whatman filter paper

·       Bottle container

·       Electric Conductivity Meter

PROCEDURE

    1)    Air dried FSSA ground soil that have less than <2mm size is prepared.

    2)   The 2mm mesh size sieve is used manually.

   3)  The FSSA ground soil is prepared and make sure that the soils does not contain roots, bark and stones.

    4)    Foreign materials are excluded.

   5)   The air dried FSSA ground soil with 100 gram is mixed with distilled water to make a saturated paste.

   6)    A combination of 25 gram of soil and water is made. The water ratio are 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5. Mixed at least 10 minutes after adding water.

   7)    The size 42 Whatman filter paper was put on the funnel before putting the saturated paste.

   8)    Then, the water is extracted using the vacuum pump (vacuum filtration).

   9)    The filtrate is kept in a bottle container with label.

  10) The electric conductivity is measured.

  11) The probe is rinsed with distilled water.

  12) The filtrate is kept in fridge for further nutrient analysis.

RESULT

Table 1 shows the concentration of the FSSA ground soil mixtures and their respective electrical conductivity

Soil : Water ratio	Electrical Conductivity (µS)
Saturated Soil Mixture	85.1
1:1	0.18
1:2	0.02
1:5	0.00

DISCUSSION

In this experiment, we only used one type of soil that is FSSA ground soil. However, the FSSA ground soil were mixed with different ratio of distilled water to get different soil mixtures concentration. The salinity of the soil mixture decreases as more water was added to it. This is because the water that are added into the soil has diluted the salts and make the salts content less concentrated. Soil Electrical Conductivity (EC) is a measurement that correlates with soil properties that affect crop productivity, such as soil salinity. The higher the electrical conductivity, the higher the salinity of soil.

According to Table 1, saturated FSSA ground soil mixture has the highest conductivity with 85.1 µS. This followed by soil mixture with 1:1 and 1:2 soil to water ratio which have the electrical conductivity of 0.18 µS and 0.02 µS respectively. However, soil mixture with 1:5 soil to water ratio has zero conductivity reading.

 A saline soil is defined as having a high concentration of soluble salts, high enough to affect plant growth. From the results above, we can know that FSSA ground soil is a saline soil. The high salt levels in soil can hinder the plants water absorption, and thus inducing physiological drought in the plant. Although the soil may contain adequate water, but due to the high salts concentration in soil, the plant roots cannot absorb the water. This is because the uptake of water by roots of plants are through osmosis. High salinity in soil causes unfavourable osmotic pressure where the soil has become a hypertonic environment for the roots of plants and results in water deficit in plant. Excessive amounts of salts entering the plants through transpiration will also further reduces plant growth and inhibit flowering.

High saline soil also shows that the FSSA ground soil come from weathered parent rocks that contains soluble salts. Weathering processes break down rocks and release soluble salts of many types mainly sodium chlorides. Furthermore, the conditions where evaporation exceeds precipitation also causes salts to accumulate in soil and thus increase the soil salinity. However, salinity of soil can be reduced by increasing the amount of water when watering the plants. This method enable more salts to be diluted and be absorb by plant.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the greater the salt content in soil, the greater its conductivity. FSSA ground soil is a saline soil where the presence of salt in the soil solution reduces the ability of the plant to take up water, and this leads to reductions in the growth rate of plants that have low tolerance to saline soil. However, Pandan Maize and Butterfly Pea plant are tolerance to the salinity of FSSA ground soil. We can also rest assure that the salinity in soil can be reduced by increasing the amount of watering to the plants in every pots.

REFERENCES

 1.     Chapter 1: General Introduction in Soil Salinity, DC Plett, 2008, https://digital.library,adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/47962/8/02chapter1-3 viewed 9 April 2018.

 2.     Dr. Rana Munns. The Impact of Salinity Stress. Retrieved from, http://www.plantstress.com/articles/salinity_i/salinity_i.htm

   3.     Juan Herrero, David C. Weindorf, Carmen Castaneda. (2015). Two Fixed Ratio Dilutions for Soil Salinity Monitoring in Hypersaline Wetlands. Retrieved from, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126493

   4.     Leticia S. Sonon, Uttam Saha, David E. Kissel. (2015). Soil Salinity- Testing, Data Interpretations and Recommendations. Retrieved from, https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/C%201019_3.PDF

   5.     Qifei Li, Min Xi, Qinggai Wang, Fanlong Kong, Yue Li (2018). Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, volume 103, pages 51-61. Characterization of soil salinization in typical estuarine area of the Jiaozhou Bay, China.

APPENDIX

Figure 1 shows saturated soil of FSSA ground soil

Figure 2 shows the saturated soil is filtered in vacuum pump

Figure 3 shows the results using Electric Conductivity Meter