IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v143y2014icp82-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temporal dynamics of soil water repellency and its impact on pasture productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Müller, K.
  • Deurer, M.
  • Jeyakumar, P.
  • Mason, K.
  • van den Dijssel, C.
  • Green, S.
  • Clothier, B.

Abstract

New Zealand pastoral soils have the potential to develop water-repellent conditions irrespective of regional climate and soil orders. The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of the temporal dynamics of soil water repellency (SWR), the mechanisms leading to this transient soil condition and its effect on pasture productivity. Topsoil actual and potential SWR, water contents and pasture production were monitored at monthly to bi-monthly intervals on two hill country pastures located in Hawke's Bay and the Waikato, New Zealand, between December 2009 and March 2012. Clear seasonal dynamics of SWR were observed with peaks during dry and warm periods and breakdown of SWR after wet periods. While the actual persistence of SWR was negatively correlated with the soil water content, it was not directly related to rainfall. But it was significantly and negatively correlated to the soil moisture deficit. Low soil fertility promoted SWR. These results confirm that soil water content alone is not a reliable predictor for the appearance and disappearance of SWR. We also conclude that a large contact angle indicates not only a high degree of SWR, but also a high persistence. One potential explanation for the high variability of the potential of SWR might be that hydrophobic organic substances causing SWR are partly and periodically leached out of the soil profile. During the summer months, pasture productivity was reduced by 48% at the Hawke's Bay site, and 48% of the observed variability in dry matter production during the entire investigation period of 2 years could be explained by the degree and the potential persistence of SWR. Our results confirm that SWR is an issue for New Zealand pastoral production that requires development of mitigation strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Müller, K. & Deurer, M. & Jeyakumar, P. & Mason, K. & van den Dijssel, C. & Green, S. & Clothier, B., 2014. "Temporal dynamics of soil water repellency and its impact on pasture productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 82-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:143:y:2014:i:c:p:82-92
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.06.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377414001899
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2014.06.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:143:y:2014:i:c:p:82-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.