IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v204y2018icp149-161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organosilicone surfactants as innovative irrigation adjuvants: Can they improve water use efficiency and nutrient uptake in crop production?

Author

Listed:
  • Baratella, Valentina
  • Trinchera, Alessandra

Abstract

In a time of resource reduction and climate variability, water conservation is critical to improve agroecosystem sustainability. Non-ionic surfactants were recently hypothesized as irrigation adjuvants, but so far researchers obtained contrasting results. The first objective of this work was to evaluate the capillary adsorption properties of organosilicone surfactants by providing two robust tests on standard porous media. Results showed smaller capillary mobility and higher wetting power (“superspreading”) compared to pure water. An innovative non-ionic surfactant formulation, the organosilicone PET (PolyEther-modified Trisiloxane), was then investigated as irrigation adjuvant in a pot trial on lettuce in absence of fertilization. Overall, the system was characterized by an improvement in the processes of resource acquisition, i.e. water and nutrients. Results indicated higher lettuce leaf area, reduced root dry weight and root:shoot ratio and a positive main effect on the uptake, availability and/or use efficiency of P, K and some micronutrients. The N use efficiency and recovery increased 3–15%, with higher N concentration and content against changes in plant weight. Fresh yield data showed a particularly high irrigation use efficiency (+77–60%), and the adjuvant productivity (variation of lettuce yield due to PET) increased by 12–26%. Our experimental findings can be explained by hypothesizing that PET affected both capillary and adsorption processes during water diffusion along concentration gradients, which constitute the main driving force for solutes movement towards the roots. A theoretical model is provided to explain how PET improved the thickening and interconnection of conductive adsorbed water film in soil.

Suggested Citation

  • Baratella, Valentina & Trinchera, Alessandra, 2018. "Organosilicone surfactants as innovative irrigation adjuvants: Can they improve water use efficiency and nutrient uptake in crop production?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 149-161.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:204:y:2018:i:c:p:149-161
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.04.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377418303081
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.04.003?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knox, J.W. & Kay, M.G. & Weatherhead, E.K., 2012. "Water regulation, crop production, and agricultural water management—Understanding farmer perspectives on irrigation efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 3-8.
    2. David Tilman & Kenneth G. Cassman & Pamela A. Matson & Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky, 2002. "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 671-677, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kelley, Jason & Olson, Bailey, 2022. "Interannual variability of water productivity on the Eastern Snake Plain in Idaho, United States," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    2. Elisa Morri & Riccardo Santolini, 2021. "Ecosystem Services Valuation for the Sustainable Land Use Management by Nature-Based Solution (NbS) in the Common Agricultural Policy Actions: A Case Study on the Foglia River Basin (Marche Region, It," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist & Helena Hansson & Ulf Sonesson & Stefan Gunnarsson, 2021. "A Systematic Mapping of Current Literature on Sustainability at Farm-Level in Beef and Lamb Meat Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Hualin Xie & Yingqian Huang & Qianru Chen & Yanwei Zhang & Qing Wu, 2019. "Prospects for Agricultural Sustainable Intensification: A Review of Research," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-27, October.
    5. Smith, Helen F. & Sullivan, Caroline A., 2014. "Ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes—Farmers' perceptions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 72-80.
    6. Aude Ridier & Caroline Roussy & Karim Chaib, 2021. "Adoption of crop diversification by specialized grain farmers in south-western France: evidence from a choice-modelling experiment," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 102(3), pages 265-283, September.
    7. Paul L. G. Vlek & Asia Khamzina & Hossein Azadi & Anik Bhaduri & Luna Bharati & Ademola Braimoh & Christopher Martius & Terry Sunderland & Fatemeh Taheri, 2017. "Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Diriba Shiferaw G., 2017. "Water-Nutrients Interaction: Exploring the Effects of Water as a Central Role for Availability & Use Efficiency of Nutrients by Shallow Rooted Vegetable Crops - A Review," Journal of Agriculture and Crops, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 3(10), pages 78-93, 10-2017.
    9. Sheng Gong & Jason.S. Bergtold & Elizabeth Yeager, 2021. "Assessing the joint adoption and complementarity between in-field conservation practices of Kansas farmers," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Seufert, Verena & Ramankutty, Navin & Mayerhofer, Tabea, 2017. "What is this thing called organic? – How organic farming is codified in regulations," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 10-20.
    11. Kataki, Sampriti & West, Helen & Clarke, Michèle & Baruah, D.C., 2016. "Phosphorus recovery as struvite: Recent concerns for use of seed, alternative Mg source, nitrogen conservation and fertilizer potential," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 142-156.
    12. Alexander D. Chapman & Stephen E. Darby & Hoàng M. Hồng & Emma L. Tompkins & Tri P. D. Van, 2016. "Adaptation and development trade-offs: fluvial sediment deposition and the sustainability of rice-cropping in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 593-608, August.
    13. Rosa, R.D. & Ramos, T.B. & Pereira, L.S., 2016. "The dual Kc approach to assess maize and sweet sorghum transpiration and soil evaporation under saline conditions: Application of the SIMDualKc model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 77-94.
    14. Chen, Chien-Ming & van Dalen, Jan, 2010. "Measuring dynamic efficiency: Theories and an integrated methodology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 749-760, June.
    15. Ethan Gordon & Federico Davila & Chris Riedy, 2022. "Transforming landscapes and mindscapes through regenerative agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 809-826, June.
    16. Teklewold, Hailemariam & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2013. "Cropping system diversification, conservation tillage and modern seed adoption in Ethiopia: Impacts on household income, agrochemical use and demand for labor," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-93.
    17. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    18. Horacio Augstburger & Fabian Käser & Stephan Rist, 2019. "Assessing Food Systems and Their Impact on Common Pool Resources and Resilience," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-25, April.
    19. Samuel I. Haruna & Nsalambi V. Nkongolo, 2020. "Influence of Cover Crop, Tillage, and Crop Rotation Management on Soil Nutrients," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-14, June.
    20. Aditi Sengupta & Priyanka Kushwaha & Antonia Jim & Peter A. Troch & Raina Maier, 2020. "New Soil, Old Plants, and Ubiquitous Microbes: Evaluating the Potential of Incipient Basaltic Soil to Support Native Plant Growth and Influence Belowground Soil Microbial Community Composition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.

    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:204:y:2018:i:c:p:149-161. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.