Effect of ‘hidratossolo’ polymer on the hydrophysical proprieties of three soils

Abstract

Several products have been tested in order to increase the water-holding capacity of soils. A laboratory study was carried out with the objective to  characterize the ‘hidratassolo’ in respect to its water absorbing capacity and evaluate the effect of dose of this polymer upon physical and hydraulic properties of the following soils: Quartzarenic Neosol, Yellow Latosol and Fluvisol. The treatments consisted of control (no polymer); 0.05; 0.10 and 0.20 dag kg^-1 of ‘hidratassolo’, referring to the dry weight of the polymer and of the soil. The results showed that the polymer has a high absorption
capacity in deionized water, but when submitted to salty solutions of sodium, potassium and calcium, having electrical conductivity of 8 dS m^-1 its hidratations were reduced, respectively to 82.8; 80.7 and 94.7%. When compared the available water values of the 3 studied soils, referring to the
higher dose of the polymer and the control, gains were observed varying of 1.81; 2.02 and 1.10 times, for Quartzarenic Neosol, Yellow Latosol and Fluvisol, respectively.