Effect of Gravel-Sand Mole Drains on Soil Electrical Conductivity and Exchanged Sodium Percentage
Abstract
A field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the mole drains in the corn crop (zea mayesL.) field during the season of 2019; this study was carried out at the Agricultural research station, University of Basrah, wherethe soil was silty clay loam.The results showed thatthe treatments of moledrains filled with gravel and sand mixture (S+G) and filled with gravel and sand layers (S/G) affected the decrease of the electrical conductivity (EC), and the exchanged sodium percentage (ESP) compared to W.M. treatment. The S/G drain gave lower values compared to the S+G drain. As well as, the values of ECdecreased by the increase of the depth of the mole drain. Also, the treatments of mole drains distances of 2 m decreased the values of EC and ESPcompared to the distance of 4 m. The S/G with depth of 60 cm and distance of 2m gavethelowervalues of EC and ESP,while the W.M. treatment gave higher values. Soil depths of 0-10and 10-20 cmreached thelower valuesof ECand ESP;howeverdepths of 50-60 cm gavethehigher values. The treatment of S/G, with mole drain depth of 50 cm, andsoil depth of 20-30 cm gave a lower value of EC; while,S+G,with mole drain depth of 50 cm, andsoil depth of 50-60 cmgave a higher value. Finally, the ESPwas decreased in the end of the growing season compared to the middle of the season.
Metrics