Significance of Applied Cellulose Polymer and Organic Manure for Ameliorating Hydro-physico-chemical Properties of Sandy Soil and Maize Yield

Abstract

The productivity of sandy soils is mostly limited by their low capacity water for retained and nutrients due to excessive deep percolation losses, which reduce the efficiency of water and fertilizer use by plants. So, soil conditioners have been recommended to be effective tools for increasing water holding capacity, reducing infiltration rate and cumulative evaporation and improving water conservation of sandy soils. Laboratory and field experiment was carried out to study the conditioning effect of synthetic cellulose polymer (carpoxymethy cellulose, CMC) and composted rice straw as individually or combined treatments on the plant growth characteristic yield nutrients uptake and water or fertilizers use efficiency by the maize as a plant indicator. In the laboratory, results indicated that soil capacity water for retained increased with increasing the applied CMC rate up to 2 or 4 g in combination with 100g compost. Thus, a complete randomized field experiment with three replications was conducted on a sandy soil at the Agriculture Research Station farm, Ismailia, Egypt, using maize (Zea mays L.) as an indicator plant. The treatments were composted rice straw at the rates of 5 and 7 ton fed-1 and CMC at the rates of 2 and 4% individually or incorporated application to a sandy soil. At the end of the growing seasons (i.e. after 120 days from plantation) some physical and chemical properties of the soil were determined. The obtained results could be summarized as applied conditioners positively affect hydro-physical properties of the soil, i.e., decreasing soil bulk density as well as macro porosity (drainage pores) on the expense of micro ones. Therefore, water holding pores were increased, as well as increasing retained moisture in the soil, because an increase in water retained at field compared that at wilting percentage. Also, decreasing mean diameter of soil pores and turn its water transmitting properties namely hydraulic conductivity. Also, for soil chemical properties, the applied treatments led to slightly decreasing soil pH, and increasing organic matter content as well as nutrient available contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil. Moreover, organic compost and CMC positively affect marketable maize yield due to increasing water and fertilizer use efficient especially when applied as a mixture. Generally, the results indicated that a mixture both compost and CMC was more efficient for improving physico-chemical properties of the studied sandy soil than applying each of them alone