THIRD LAB REPORT: UPLAND PADDY



FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
SS11403 ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL SCIENCE

GROUP: upland paddy
Date of Submission: 10 apRIL 2018
Lecturer: dr. diana demiyah mohd hamdan

NAME
MATRIC NO.
JOHN NIELSON ANAK GRIFFIN
BS17110055
Moganantheni A/P Segar
BS17110509
Nurzaharah Binti Omar Basa

BS17110518
Liew sin yin
BS17160664
Tan Shi Min

Bs17110516

INTAN NATASYA BINTI ABDUL HALIM

BS17160681














INTRODUCTION
Soil salinity is the result of the presence of soluble salts in excess of the cation exchange capacity and/or the presence of high amounts of exchangeable sodium.If the exchangeable sodium is present in an amount greater than 15% of the exchange capacity, a sodium effect will be present. Soil salinity is caused by several factors. Soils may become saline as a result of land use, including the use of irrigation water with high levels of salt. Irrigating from salt-impacted wells or saline industrial water may lead to the formation of saline soils. High salinity can be indicative of saltwater contamination of the groundwater. This occurs in areas where large amounts of fresh water are being pumped out to meet the demands of urban development and a body of saltwater is nearby that can creep in to fill the void.   

Salinity is a measure of the total amount of soluble salts in soil. The most common salt is sodium chloride and the others include sulphates and carbonates of calcium, bicarbonates, magnesium and potassium. As soluble salt levels increase, it becomes more difficult for plants to extract water from soil. Some of the plants are more resistant than others but as the salt level exceed their ability to extract water, they become water stressed and known as chemical drought, since affected plants show visual symptoms similar to those plants suffering from a lack of water. Some salts are useful. For example, many fertilizers are in a salt form, but too much salt of any kind is detrimental to plants and other organisms. Higher salt concentrations can be created by poor soil drainage, improper irrigation which is short increments often, irrigation water with high levels of salts which is house water run through a water softener, when excessive amounts of fertilizer, manure or compost applied. Also, a concentration of salts is high in the root zone that can damage plant health and reduce crop yields. High concentration of soluble salts can kill vines.

Measurement of soil salinity is generally used to determine the salt status of a soil, particularly if vines are showing salt toxicity symptoms. The presence of excess salt may be identified by measuring the electrical conductivity of a water extract of a soil. Soil salinity is measured as electrical conductivity (EC) in units of decisiemens (dS/m). Pure water is a poor conductor of electricity which is increases in soluble salts result in proportional increases in the solution electrical conductivity (EC). The standard procedure for salinity testing is to measure electrical conductivity of a solution extracted from a soil wetted to a “saturation paste”.  Salt is extracted from the soil using one of two methods, the most accurate and reliable of which is the saturation extract, though this method must be done in a soil testing laboratory.


OBJECTIVES
1.     To identify the reading of the five different soils in electric conductivity (EC) meter.
2.     To determine the suitable soil toward paddy plant.

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

Apparatus
Materials

1. 2mm mesh size sieve
2. 200ml of glass beaker
3. Spatula
4. Vacuum pump
5. Laboratory flask
6. Graduated cylinder
7. Size 42 whatman filter paper
8. Bottle container
9. Electric conductivity meter

1. Distilled water
2. 5 Air dried soil samples

METHODOLOGY
1.    5 different type of air dried soil samples which is less than 2mm size was prepared by sieving manually using mesh size sieve.
2.    All the roots, barks, stones and all foreign material were made sure removed.
3.    100g of soil was measured from all five air dried soil samples and added distilled water to make the filtered soil into paste.
4.    Another 25g of soil was measured and added together with distilled water with the water ratio 1:1, 1:2, 1:5. The mixtures were then mixed for 10 minutes continuously.
5.    42 whatman filter paper were placed on the funnel before putting the saturated paste.
6.     Water is extracted from the paste using the vacuum pump.
7.    The electric conductivity is then measured.
 RESULTS
Vacuum Flask Experiment
Type of soil
Conductivity, µs
Depan A1
0.15
Mangrove
0.83
Parking Lot
0.29
ODEC
0.10
Field
0.32

The Filter Paper Experiment by Ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5
                                   Ratio



Type of Soil
Conductivity, ms/cm
1:1
1:2
1:5
Depan A1
46.9
45.2
44.0
Mangrove
472
623
298
Parking Lot
130.1
102.5
67.2
ODEC
8.62
9.02
2.44
Field
140.2
100.6
61.4



DISCUSSION
Soil salinity is a term used to describe the salt content within soil. A soil may be rich in salts because of the parent rock from which it is formed contains salt, but most crops do not grow well on soils when present in high concentration of salts. This is because salts will cause a reduction in the rate and amount of water that the plant roots can take up from the soil. The purpose of this experiment is to figure out the electrical conductivity for each type of soils. Electrical conductivity is the ability of a material to transmit an electrical current.
           From this experiment, we can see that Mangrove’s soil has recorded the highest electrical conductivity with 472 mS/cm (1:1), 623 mS/cm (1:2) and 298 mS/cm (1:5) while ODEC’s soil has the lowest electrical conductivity with 8.62 mS/cm (1:1), 9.02 mS/cm (1:2), and 2.44 mS/cm (1:5). Soil electrical conductivity correlates very strongly with particle size and soil texture. In this experiment, the conductivity of Mangrove’s soil is heavily influenced by the water content and the clay contain. The clay has some conductivity because of the free ions of the clay mineral. The texture of the clay soil also makes it have much better ability to store and hold onto cations when compared to sandy soils. In addition, the loss of nutrients are much lesser than in sandy soils. On the contrary, ODEC’s dry and pure sand is very resistive, hence resulting in a low electrical conductivity. Besides, the ability of sandy soils to store and hold cations are not as good as clayey or silt sand. As a result, through this findings we can say that the higher the dissolved salt or ion concentration, the more conductive the sample and hence the higher the conductivity reading. High electrical conductivity leads to more negatively charged sites that must present in the soil and therefore, more cations will show up.


CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, the salinity of soil is very important to be identified as it affects the growth of a plant and this experiment was carried out to help us to determine the salinity of different type of soil which was taken from different locations. Through experimental results, It was found that soil sample taken from mangrove swamp showed the highest electrical conductivity which leads to highest salinity and the soil taken from ODEC beach shows the lowest electrical conductivity which leads to lowest salinity.


REFERENCES
Barbosa, R. N., & Overstreet, C. (n, d.). What Is Soil Electrical Conductivity? Retrieved on 7th April 2018 from http://www.lsuagcenter.com/nr/rdonlyres/e57e82a0-3b99-4dee-99b5-cf2ad7c43aef/77101/pub3185whatissoilelectricalconductivityhighres.pdf

Bruckner, Monica Z. (n, d.). Water and Soil Characterization – pH and Electrical Conductivity. Retrieved on 8th April 2018 from https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/environ_sampling/pH_EC.html

Fourie, M. (n. d.). What can electrical conductivity tell us about our soil? Retrieved on 8th April 2018 from http://traceandsave.com/what-can-electrical-conductivity-tell-us-about-our-soil/

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

Vernon Parent and Rich Koenig. (2010). SOLUTIONS TO SOIL PROBLEMS I. High Salinity (soluble salts). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1953&context=extension_curall&httpsredir=1&article=1953&context=extension_curall

Vineyard Activity Guides. (2010). Measuring soil salinity. Retrieved from https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/v_activity_soil_measure.pdf

APPENDIX


 Electric Conductivity Meter






 Filter Funnel Experiment by Ratio



The Vacuum Flask Experiment




















SOIL PERMEABILITY EXPERIMENT




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