Journal of Hydrology 373 (2009) 177183

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Journal of Hydrology
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Water retention, hydraulic conductivity of hydrophilic polymers in sandy soil as affected by temperature and water quality
H. Andry a,*, T. Yamamoto a, T. Irie a, S. Moritani a, M. Inoue a, H. Fujiyama b
a b

Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Minami 4-101 Koyama, Tottori 680-8553, Japan

a r t i c l e

i n f o

s u m m a r y
Hydrophilic polymers can swell by absorbing huge volumes of water or aqueous solutions. This property has led to many practical applications of these new materials, particularly in arid regions for improving water retention in sandy soils and the water supply to plants grown on them. The effects of two hydrophilic polymers, carboxymethylcellulose (RF) and isopropyl acrylamide (BF) on the water holding capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS) of a sandy soil at varying soil temperature and water quality were evaluated. The RF was less efcient in absorbing water than BF, but the efciency of BF in retaining water was negatively affected by its thermo-sensitivity and the quality of water. The temperature dependence of the water absorption was not clear for the soils treated with RF, whereas, the efciency of BF treatment in absorbing water decreased signicantly (P < 0.05) with increasing soil temperature. The dependence of the KS on soil temperature differed with the type of hydrophilic polymer used. The KS of the control soil remained nearly constant as the soil temperature increased. The KS of the BF treated soil increased signicantly (P < 0.05) and linearly with increasing soil temperature, while that of soil treated with RF showed a quadratic response. The soilabsorbent mixtures exhibited different water retention characteristics under different soil temperature conditions. The increase in soil temperature did not affect the water retention characteristics curve of the control. The effect of soil temperature on the water potential curve of the soil treated with RF was not clear particularly when the temperature increased from 25 to 35 C. The water potential curve for soilBF mixtures showed that the water content value at eld capacity shifted from 0.21 to 0.10 cm3 cm3 for 0.1% and from 0.27 to 0.12 cm3 cm3 for 0.2%, as the soil temperature increased from 15 to 35 C. This implies that the soilBF absorbent mixtures would release some moisture as the soil temperature would increase from 15 to 35 C, and this water could be lost by percolation or taken up by plant. It was found that available water content increased up to four times with RF as compared to control soil whereas it increased up to ve times with BF treatment. At high temperature, the difference was much reduced except for RF at 0.2%. This understanding of the characteristics of the absorbents and the interactions among absorbents, soil, and temperature would be of help in water management in sandy soil. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 10 February 2009 Received in revised form 16 April 2009 Accepted 21 April 2009

This manuscript was handled by G. Syme, Editor-in-Chief Keywords: Sandy soil Carboxymethylcellulose Isopropyl acrylamide Temperature Soil hydraulic properties

Introduction Sandy soils are characterized by low water-holding capacity and excessive drainage of rain and irrigation water below the root zone, leading to poor water and fertilizer use efciency by plants grown on them. Seed germination and plant development are critically restricted because of low soil moisture content. Furthermore, the problem becomes accentuated when plants with shallow rooting are grown. The efciency of the use of rain and irrigation water by plants is of great importance in semiarid and arid regions, where shortage of water is frequently experienced and water is often the limiting factor determining the size of the cultivated area.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 857 23 3411; fax: +81 857 29 6199. E-mail address: andry_78486@yahoo.com (H. Andry). 0022-1694/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.04.020

In modern agriculture many hydrophilic polymers are used to enhance both the nutritional and water status of plants. It has been reported that these hydrophilic polymers are capable of retaining water up to 500 times of their weight (Buchholz, 1998), can build an additional water reservoir for the plantsoilsystem (e.g. Bouranis et al., 1995), and can, therefore, reduce water stress in plants. Flannery and Busscher (1982) and Johnson (1984) have reported that the use of hydrophilic polymers increases the amount of available moisture in the root zone, thus permitting longer intervals between irrigations. Hydrophilic polymers are effective in increasing the water holding capacity, decreasing deep percolation, and reducing evaporation losses in sandy soils (El-Shafei et al., 1992). Moreover, the use of hydrophilic polymers leads to increased water use efciency since the water that would have otherwise leached beyond the root zone is captured. During hot days, the root hair

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system of a plant pulls out and depletes most of the water from the area close to the root system, thus causing the plant to go into stress. While increasing the amount of available moisture, hydrophilic polymers help reduce water stress of plants resulting in increased growth and plant performance (Baker, 1991). It has also been reported that hydrophilic polymers have the potential for aiding seed germination and emergence and increasing the seedling survival (Gray, 1981; Azzam, 1983), and increasing the nutrient recovery from applied fertilizers. Soil water diffusivity as a function of soil water content was also found to decrease substantially with an increase in the hydrophilic polymer soil conditioner (ElShafei et al., 1994). The saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased considerably with an increase in the concentration of hydrophilic polymer soil conditioner in the soil (El-Shafei et al., 1992, 1994). Although the improvement of sandy soil hydraulic properties treated with the hydrophilic polymer has been widely reported; the knowledge of the polymer absorption and desorption characteristics under different soil temperature conditions could help in proper design of irrigation management. It is well-known that polymers with suitable hydrophilichydrophobic balance may exhibit thermo-sensitivity. Zhao et al. (2005) reported that hydrophilic polymer absorption decreased with increasing temperature from 30 to 60 C; however, there is a lack of information on the dependence of hydrophilic polymers characteristics on soil temperature. Fluctuations in soil temperature and soil moisture are closely linked, but rarely studied together (Bryla et al., 2001). Soil moisture not only affects root physiology directly, but also affects soil thermal properties. Thus, dry soils typically uctuate much more widely in daily temperature than wet soils. Soil temperature is an important physical factor because of the role it plays in plant growth and yield. It determines the type and rate of different physical and chemical reactions in the soil. The functional activities of plant roots such as absorption and translocation of water are also related to the soil temperature (Monteith, 1977). The soil properties that determine the behavior of soil water ow are mainly the hydraulic conductivity and water retention characteristics. The hydraulic conductivity of a soil is a measure of its ability to transmit water and it is the fundamental process upon which plants water uptake depends. Thus, knowledge of the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of soils as a function of soil water content and as affected by hydrophilic polymer under different temperature conditions is essential. A detailed understanding of the hydrophilic polymer absorption and desorption characteristics under different soil temperature conditions will be essential for designing irrigation scheduling system that may lead to the improvement of the water use efciency in arid regions. Hydrophilic polymers are derived from many sources with wide ranging properties, and many of them have considerable economic and technical importance (Azzam, 1980). Simultaneous management of the environment with rehabilitation of agriculture condition is among the processes that promote sustainable developments in arid regions. For instance, incorporating hydrophilic polymer in the sandy soil could save much water by decreasing the water loss from percolation and releasing the water at the time when plants need it. It has been found that plants grown in soil amended with hydrophilic polymers were slower to wilt than those in unamended medium (Woodhouse and Johnson, 1991). In order to achieve this aim, the use of hydrophilic polymers derived from industrial waste material is among the most suitable soil water conditioning practices. This will improve not only the water use efciency in sandy soil but can also alleviate the industrial waste material disposal issues in the region. However, information regarding the effects of a given hydrophilic polymer type on some of the physical properties of the soil under sandy soil conditions is necessary before its eld application. The objective of this study

was to examine the effect of two hydrophilic polymers derived from industrial waste on the water holding capacity and hydraulic conductivity of sandy soil, as affected by soil temperature and water quality.

Materials and methods Soil, hydrophilic polymer material, and experimental set up The experiments were conducted using samples of a sandy soil from Tottori University, Arid Land Research Center, Japan. The soil contained 40 2, 55 3, and 905 15 g kg1 of clay, silt, and sand, respectively. The electrical conductivity of the soil in water (1:5) was 0.078 0.002 dS m1, the cation exchange capacity of the soil at pH 7 was 3.5 0.2 cmolc kg1, and soil organic carbon content was 6 g kg1. Two hydrophilic polymers developed by the Miyamazaki Kagaku Corporation Company based on Bemberg ber derived from industrial waste material were used in this study: carboxymethylcellulose (RF) and isopropyl acrylamide (BF). The median grain size of RF and BF was 0.45 and 0.3 mm, respectively. Each of the two hydrophilic polymers was mixed with dry sandy soil to give mixtures of 0 (control), 0.1%, and 0.2% which corresponded to 0, 1, and 2 g absorbent kg1 of soil, respectively. These mixing ratios were selected to ensure that the growth of plant roots would not be adversely affected. Bradford and Yang (1981) afrmed that one consideration in deciding the amounts of hydrophilic polymer is that they can cause water-logging side effects, thereby creating an anaerobic system. Water-logging causes toxin to build up by severely limiting oxygen to the roots. Water-logging effects are visible when the plant wilts because water is no longer moving upward from the roots (Bradford and Yang, 1981). Three sets of air temperature based on the uctuation of daily air temperature in arid region i.e., 15, 25, and 35 C were tested in this study in a controlled environment room. The soil samples were prepared and kept in the controlled environment room for 3 days at a particular temperature before the studies were started to establish a soil temperature similar to the air temperature. All experiments were conducted at a constant ambient air relative humidity of 97 3%. Moisture retention and soilabsorbent mixtures hydraulic properties The water absorption capacities of the hydrophilic polymers alone were determined with the teabag method as described in the study of Buchholz (1998). Commercial teabag of 9.5 cm length and 7 cm height was used in this study. One gram of hydrophilic polymer was packed in a teabag and submerged into a prepared solution for 3 days (Buchholz, 1998). Solutions of liquid Sumitomo Fertilizer (13.42 g nitrogen L1, 97.6 g phosphorus L1, and 61 g potassium L1) with distilled water dilution ratios of 0, 1:2000, 1:1000, 1:500, and 1:100, based on the rate of liquid fertilizer generally applied in arid regions, were prepared and used in this study. Similarly, solutions of saline water were prepared with NaCl at a salt concentration of 1000, 4000, and 15,000 ppm to simulate the quality of irrigation water available in the arid regions. The pH value of all prepared solutions was adjusted to seven with 1 M HCl or 1 M NaOH. The weight of the swollen absorbent was measured after the excess surface solution was removed by lter paper. The water absorption capacity was computed from the ratio of the weight of swelled absorbent and the weight after oven drying at 105 C for 48 h. One hundred and fty grams of dry soilabsorbent mixtures were packed in 100 cm3 soil columns (5 cm diameter and 5.1 cm height) to get a bulk density of 1.55 Mg m3. The saturation was

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undertaken from the bottom of the soil columns with deionised water (pH = 7) for 24 h under controlled room temperatures. Soilabsorbent swelling over the top edge of the soil column was cut and smoothly removed before performing the studies of soil hydraulic properties. The water absorption capacity of the soilabsorbent mixtures was characterized by the swelling ratio. This ratio was calculated as the difference between the soil bulk densities before and after saturation and divided by the former one. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS) was measured following the falling-head method as described by Klute and Dirksen (1986). The moisture retention, for the drying cycle, was measured successively by applying suction equivalent to matrix potentials ranging from pF0 to pF2 and the centrifuge method was followed for the subsequent pF values. The suction was created with a vacuum pump having a maximum suction of 1000 cm head pressure. The pF3 and pF4 were successively measured by centrifuging the suctioned soil columns for 1 h at turning velocity of 3000 and 9500 rpm, respectively. The residual moisture content was determined by oven drying the soil sample at 105 C for 48 h. The available water content (AWC) for plants was estimated from the difference between water contents at matrix potentials of pF1.6 and pF3, representing, respectively, the eld capacity and wilting point of sandy soil in arid regions. Four replications were used for each treatment. The four replicate data of swelling, KS, and AWC were subjected to a mean separation analysis using one-way ANOVA test at signicance of P < 0.05. Results and discussion Water absorption capacity of the pure hydrophilic polymer The amount of distilled water absorbed by the two hydrophilic polymers during 3 days as a function of temperature is presented in Fig. 1. The water absorption characteristics of carboxymethylcellulose (RF) and isopropyl acrylamide (BF) differed signicantly (P < 0.05) as a function of temperature. The water absorption of RF showed only a slight increase with increasing temperature, the amount of water absorbed being 77, 92, and 95 g g1 of absor-

300

RF
250

BF
Water uptake (g/g)
200

150

100

bent at 15, 25, and 35 C, respectively. Suo et al. (2007) reported an increase in water absorbency of carboxymethylcellulose until a bath temperature of 50 C as a result of a higher polymerization rate, which leads to the decline of the absorbing efciency according to Florys network theory. Our result implies that RF can be used in a wide range of soil temperature. Fig. 1 further shows that the RF was less efcient in absorbing water than BF highlighting that water-absorbing capacity was inversely related to the median grain size of the hydrophilic polymers as reported in the study of Bhardwaj et al. (2007). However, the efciency of BF decreased signicantly (P < 0.05) up to 60% when the temperature increased from 15 to 35 C. The amount of water absorbed was 249, 219, and 145 g g1 of absorbent at temperatures of 15, 25, and 35 C, respectively. The decrease in water absorption by isopropyl acrylamide could be the result of the dependence effect of temperature. As the temperature was increased, the water absorbency decreased, with the most drastic decrease being around the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), about 2532 C. The main reason for this characteristic of the hydrophilic polymers is the unique and rapid alternation of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic states (Okano et al., 1990; Xu et al., 2006). At temperatures below the LCST, the hydrophilic groups of the hydrophilic polymers form hydrogen bonds with water molecules. These bonds act to form a stable shell of hydration around the hydrophobic groups, resulting in greater water uptake and producing larger water absorption. As the external temperature increases, the associative interactions among the hydrophobic groups release the entrapped water molecules from the hydrophilic polymer networks. The amount of water absorbed by the two hydrophilic polymers during three days of submersion under different water qualities (pH = 7) at 25 C is shown in Fig. 2. The water absorption efciency of both hydrophilic polymers decreased signicantly with increasing electrical conductivity (EC) of the solution. This was in agreement with the ndings reported by Green et al. (2004) with cross-linked polyacrylamides, and Zhao et al. (2005) with poly (aspartic acid). Green et al. (2004) reported that the drastic reduction in water absorption of cross-linked polyacrylamides could be explained by the collapse of the structure of the hydrophilic polymer by the salt effect. On the other hand, Zhao et al. (2005) indicated that the commonly observed swelling of ionic hydrophilic polymers often resulted from a charge screening effect of additional cations causing a non-perfect anion-anion electrostatic repulsion that led to a decreased osmotic ionic pressure difference between the polymer network and the external solution. In our study, the effects indicated by Zhao et al. (2005) might have occurred on the hydrophilic polymers when they were submerged into a solution, since the collapsing of their structure was not clearly noticed. It was also observed in our study that the efciency of isopropyl acrylamide (BF) in retaining water was signicantly (P < 0.05) affected by the quality of water compared to carboxymethylcellulose (RF). A slight increase in the EC of the solution caused a signicant (P < 0.05) decrease in water absorption of BF as compared to that of RF. This result could be useful for selecting a type of hydrophilic polymer suitable based on the water quality for the designed irrigation system. Water absorption capacity of the soilabsorbent mixtures

50

0 15 C 25 C 35 C

Temperature
Fig. 1. Water absorption capacity of the absorbent alone under different temperature conditions. Bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

The water absorption characteristics were determined from the swelling property of the soilabsorbent mixtures after saturation. The saturation resulted in the expansion of the soilabsorbent mixtures above the upper edge of the soil column, which was removed before testing hydraulic properties. Based on the methodology used in this study, it is noted that the lower value was the dry bulk density after the experiment, greater was the swelling of the treatment. The expending of the soilabsorbent mixtures occurred

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350 300 250 200 150

30

25

RF EC

BF
20

15

10 100 50 0
Distilled water 0.0005 0.001 0.002 0.01 1000 4000 15000

0 Rate of fertilizer application (v/v) Saline water concentration (ppm)

Treatment
Fig. 2. Water absorption capacity of the absorbent alone under different water quality treatments at temperature of 25 C. Bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

mainly as a result of the absorbent swelling which increased with increasing concentration of the absorbent in the soil as has also been reported by Buchholz (1998). The swelling depended on the amount and type of the absorbent used in the mixture. Fig. 3 shows that the water absorption increased with increasing mixing ratio of the soilabsorbent, and isopropyl acrylamide (BF) was more efcient than carboxymethylcellulose (RF). The effect of temperature on the soil mixtures of the two hydrophilic polymers (Fig. 3) differed as they followed the trend of their respective water absorption characteristics without soil in the deionised water as shown in Fig. 1. The swelling ratio of soil treated with RF increased signicantly (P < 0.05) at low rate of mixing (0.1%) with increasing temperature while at the higher rate of mixing (0.2%) there was a signicant (P < 0.05) decrease as the temperature increased from 25 to 35 C. The efciency of BF treatment in absorbing water decreased signicantly (P < 0.05) with increasing soil temperature at both levels of mixing. Comparing the results in Figs. 1 and 3, it is clear that the decrease in water absorption

of the soils treated with BF as affected by the soil temperature was much less than that of absorbent alone. In the treatments, each absorbent granule is surrounded by soil particles and subjected to a conning pressure by these particles (Buchholz, 1998). As a result, being conned by the soil matrix, the absorbent granular can form hydrophilic interactions in the soil block that can still lead to some water uptake (Xu et al., 2006) though the degree of swelling of the BF mixture was limited compared to that of the free absorbent in a solution. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soilabsorbent mixtures The saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS) of the soilabsorbent mixtures is shown in Fig. 4. The KS decreased signicantly (P < 0.05) with the increase in mixing ratio of hydrophilic polymer. It was inversely correlated with the soilabsorbent swelling properties. The decrease was more under isopropyl acrylamide (BF) treatment than that with carboxymethylcellulose (RF). This could

14

0.1

Control
12

RF-0.1 %

RF-0.2 %

BF-0.1 %

BF-0.2 %

Control

RF-0.1 % BF-0.2 %

Electrical conductivity EC (dS/m)

RF-0.2 %

Water uptake (g/g)

10

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (cm / s 1 )

BF-0.1 %

Swelling ratio (%)

0.01

0.001

0 15 C 25 C 35 C

0.0001

15 C

Temperature
Fig. 3. Swelling capacity of soilabsorbent mixtures under different temperature conditions. Bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

25 C Temperature

35 C

Fig. 4. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of soilabsorbent mixtures under different temperature conditions. Bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

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be attributed to the difference in their water absorption characteristics. The increase in soilabsorbent swelling and the clay dispersion affected by the use of deionized water during saturation might have caused soil structure degradation leading to decrease in pore space between soil aggregates and, ultimately decreased KS value (Levy et al., 2004). A similar decrease in KS with application of hydrophilic polymer was reported by El-Shafei et al. (1992). The dependence of the saturated hydraulic conductivity on soil temperature differed with the type of hydrophilic polymer used. The KS of the untreated soil (control) remained nearly constant as the soil temperature increased. The KS of the soil treated with BF increased signicantly (P < 0.05) and linearly with increasing soil temperature, while a quadratic response was found with RF treatment. However, as shown in Fig. 4, all the treatments induced an increase in KS at 35 C. Based on this result, applying the irrigation water in the early morning when the temperature is generally lower than 25 C could result in more water saving from deep percolation loss. Water retention of the soilabsorbent mixtures The amount of water retained by the soil alone and the soil absorbent mixtures as a function of matrix potential is shown in Fig. 5. The soilabsorbent mixtures retained signicantly (P < 0.05) more water than the control soil, and the water content increased with increasing amount of hydrophilic polymer in the soil. Isopropyl acrylamide (BF) was more efcient than carboxy-

methylcellulose (RF), which is consistent with the soilabsorbent swelling characteristics, and the water retention has positive correlation with soil saturated hydraulic conductivity. The control and soilabsorbent mixtures exhibited different water retention characteristics under different soil temperature conditions. The increase in soil temperature did not affect the water retention characteristics curve of the control. The water potential curve showed that the water content value at eld capacity shifted from 0.21 to 0.10 cm3 cm3 for the soil treated with 0.1% BF and from 0.27 to 0.12 cm3 cm3 for the soil treated with 0.2% BF as the soil temperature increased from 15 to 35 C. This would imply that the soil absorbent mixtures would be releasing moisture as the temperature would increase from 15 to 35 C, and this water could be lost by percolation or taken up by plant. The effect of soil temperature on the water potential curve of the soil treated with RF was not clear particularly when the temperature increased from 25 to 35 C. The available water content (AWC) retained by the soilabsorbent mixtures is shown in Fig. 6. It was found that AWC increased up to four times with RF as compared to control whereas it increased up to ve times with BF treatment. The control soil showed a slight increase in AWC with increase in soil temperature, whereas in case of soilabsorbent mixtures a decrease in AWC was observed. A signicant decrease (P < 0.05) was found in the soil treated with BF. The isopropyl acrylamide (BF) treatment showed a negative linear dependence of water retention on soil temperature, whereas a quadratic relationship was observed with the carboxy-

5.0
Control BF-0.1 % BF-0.2 %

15 C 4.0 25 C 35 C 3.0 pF 2.0 1.0 0.0 5.0

RF-0.1 % RF-0.2 %

4.0

3.0 pF 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Volumetric water content (cm3/cm3)
Fig. 5. Water retention characteristics of soilabsorbent mixtures under different temperature conditions. The horizontal lines represent the assumed eld capacity (pF1.6) and wilting point (pF3) of the sandy soil on its own.

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0.25

Control

RF-0.1 %

RF-0.2 %

BF-0.1 %

BF-0.2 %

Available water content (cm 3/ cm 3 )

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 15 C 25 C 35 C

Temperature
Fig. 6. Available water content in soilabsorbent mixtures at different temperature conditions. Bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

methylcellulose (RF) treatment. The increase in mixing ratio from 0.1% to 0.2% did have a signicant effect (P < 0.05) on AWC at any soil temperature except in the case of soil treated with RF at 15 C. This study highlighted that carboxymethylcellulose (RF) and isopropyl acrylamide (BF) hydrophilic polymers can be used as water absorbents in sandy soils of arid and semi arid regions. The results could help in deciding the right irrigation water timing such as in the early morning when the soil temperature is generally below 25 C. AWC of all treatments was higher at 15 C and a gradual release in the portion of AWC could be expected with diurnal changes in soil temperature. This would be of help in increasing water use efciency and plant production in those regions. Conclusions In this study, the effects of two hydrophilic polymers, carboxymethylcellulose (RF) and isopropyl acrylamide (BF) on the water holding capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS) of a sandy soil as affected by soil temperature and water quality were evaluated. The difference in the water absorption characteristics of RF and BF was controlled by temperature of the solution. The RF was less efcient in absorbing water than BF. However, the efciency of BF in retaining water was negatively affected by its thermo-sensitivity and the quality of water. A signicant decrease in water absorption capacity of BF was observed with increasing solution temperature or a slight increase in electrical conductivity in the solution as compared to that of RF. The temperature dependence of the water absorption was not clear for the soils treated with RF, whereas, the efciency of BF treated soil in absorbing water decreased signicantly (P < 0.05) with increasing soil temperature. The dependence of the saturated hydraulic conductivity of treatment on soil temperature differed with the type of hydrophilic polymer used. The KS of the control showed little change with increasing soil temperature. The KS of the soil treated with BF increased signicantly (P < 0.05) and linearly with increasing soil temperature, while a quadratic response was found with the RF treatment. However, it was found that all the treatments induced an increase in KS at 35 C. The control and soilabsorbent mixtures exhibited different water retention

characteristics under different soil temperature conditions. The increase in soil temperature did not affect the water retention characteristics curve of the control. The water potential curve of the soil treated with RF was not much conspicuously affected particularly when the temperature increased from 25 to 35 C. The water potential curve for soilBF mixtures showed that the water content value at eld capacity shifted from 0.21 to 0.10 cm3 cm3 for 0.1% and from 0.27 to 0.12 cm3 cm3 for 0.2%, as the soil temperature increased from 15 to 35 C. This would imply that the soil absorbent mixtures would be releasing moisture as the temperature would increase from 15 to 35 C, and this water could be lost by percolation or taken up by plant. AWC increased up to four times with RF as compared to control soil whereas it increased up to ve times with BF treatment. Information on the AWC improvement in sandy soil through the benecial effects of adding hydrophilic polymer is signicantly important for designing irrigation management systems. This study highlighted that applying the irrigation in the early morning could help to save more water on a sandy soil treated with hydrophilic polymer by reducing percolation loss. Also, better understanding of the characteristics of the two hydrophilic polymers will be helpful in selecting a type of absorbent suitable for a given type of irrigation management system, such as the quality of irrigation water used. Acknowledgments This research was supported by the G-CEO Project in Arid Land Research Center of Tottori University. The authors thank to the Miyamazaki Kagaku Corporation for providing the two hydrophilic polymers reported in this study. Acknowledgement is also extended to Dr. Mohan Saxena, visiting professor at ALRC, for his editorial comments. References
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