Assessing Roles of Aggregate Structure on Hydraulic Properties of Saline/Sodic Soils in Coastal Reclaimed Areas

Bibliographic Details
Title: Assessing Roles of Aggregate Structure on Hydraulic Properties of Saline/Sodic Soils in Coastal Reclaimed Areas
Authors: Yuanhang Fei, Dongli She, Shengqiang Tang, Hongde Wang, Xiaoqin Sun, Xiao Han, Dongdong Liu
Source: Agronomy, Vol 14, Iss 12, p 2877 (2024)
Publisher Information: MDPI AG, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Agriculture
Subject Terms: soil water stable aggregates, soil saline–alkali characteristics, principal component analysis, pedotransfer functions, Agriculture
More Details: During coastal reclamation processes, land use conversion from natural coastal saline/sodic soils to agricultural land changes the soil’s physicochemical properties. However, the impact of soil structure evolution on soil hydraulic properties (SHPs, e.g., hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention curves) during long-term reclamation has rarely been reported. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of reclamation duration and land use types on the soil aggregate stability and SHPs of coastal saline/sodic soils and incorporate the aggregate structures into the SHPs. In this study, a total of 90 soil samples from various reclaimed years (2007, 1960, and 1940) and land use patterns (cropland, grassland, forestland, and wasteland) were taken to analyze the quantitative effects of soil saline/sodic characteristics and the aggregate structure on SHPs through pedotransfer functions (PTFs). We found that soil macroaggregate contents in the old reclaimed areas (reclaimed in 1940 and 1960) were significantly larger than those in the new reclamation area (reclaimed in 2007). The soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of forestland was larger than that of grassland in each reclamation year. Soil structure contributed to 22.13%, 24.52%, and 23.93% of the total variation in Ks and soil water retention parameters (α and n). The PTFs established in our study were as follows: log(Ks) = 0.524 − 0.177 × Yk3 − 0.093 × Yk1 + 0.135 × Yk4 − 0.054 × Yk2, 1/α = 477.244 − 91.732 × Yα2 − 81.283 × Yα4 + 38.106 × Yα3, and n = 1.679 − 0.086 × Yn2 + 0.045 × Yn1 − 0.042 × Yn3 (Y are principal components). The mean relative errors of the prediction models for log(Ks), 1/α, and n were 79.30%, 36.1%, and 9.89%, respectively. Our findings quantify the vital roles of the aggregate structure on the SHPs of coastal saline/sodic soils, which will help us understand related hydrological processes.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2073-4395
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/12/2877; https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4395
DOI: 10.3390/agronomy14122877
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/d5c5c34e7ce243898d40a8f5faeb13e8
Accession Number: edsdoj.5c5c34e7ce243898d40a8f5faeb13e8
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:20734395
DOI:10.3390/agronomy14122877
Published in:Agronomy
Language:English