Water Transmission Characteristics of a Typical Saline and a NonSaline Soil Amended with Different Materials

To study the effect of leaching and soil amendment on water transmission characteristics, a laboratory study was conducted on a highly saline, calcareous, Vertic Ustochrept (unleached) and a non-saline, calcarious Vertic Ustochrept (leached) soils. The amendments are sand, FYM and gypsum and the rate of application was 10 t ha⁻¹. High soil water diffusivity was observed in leached soil in all the treatments than in unleached soil. The effect of amendments on soil water diffusivity differed in leached and unleached soils. In case of unleached soil the higher values of soil water diffusivity were observed in sand treated soil followed by FYM and gypsum treated soils while the least was observed in untreated soil. In case of leached soil.near saturation the highest soil water diffusivity was observed under gypsum treated soil followed by sand, FYM and untreated soils. Hydraulic conductivity and weighted mean diffusivity were of similar order. The penetrability and sorptivity also followed similar trends. Reverse was the trend for solid-liquid contact angle and moisture retention characteristics of the system. An exponential function of the type D(θ) = DO e^β8 was found good for describing the soil water diffusivity D(θ) and moisture content “θ”, relationship.