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Comparison of various techniques to estimate the extent and persistence of soil water repellency

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Abstract

New techniques to estimate the extent and persistence of soil water repellency (SWR) were compared with commonly used techniques in assessing the results taken in the long-term agricultural experimental orchards in northern Israel irrigated with either freshwater (FW), primary treated wastewater (WW) or (secondary or tertiary) treated wastewater (TWW), where SWR induced by irrigation was registered (Ha Ma’apil, Neve Etan, and Shafdan). The extent of SWR was assessed by the repellency index RI, combined repellency index RIc and modified repellency index RIm. The persistence of SWR was assessed by the water drop penetration time WDPT and water repellency cessation time WRCT. Soils from different textural classes were classified as slightly to strongly water repellent according to WDPT or RI values. Relationship between RIc and RI values can be well fitted by the linear equation, i.e., RIc could be a good substitute for RI. Relationships between WRCT and WDPT values as well as RIm and RIc or RI values cannot be accurately described by the linear equation, i.e., RIm is not a good substitute for RI for the values taken in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-84104, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ľubomír Lichner & Marek Rodný

  2. Department of Soil Science and Soil Ecology, Institute of Geography, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, D-44801, Bochum, Germany

    Bernd Marschner & Karsten Schacht

  3. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    Yona Chen, Itamar Nadav & Jorge Tarchitzky

Authors
  1. Ľubomír Lichner
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  2. Marek Rodný
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  3. Bernd Marschner
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  4. Yona Chen
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  5. Itamar Nadav
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  6. Jorge Tarchitzky
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  7. Karsten Schacht
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Correspondence to Ľubomír Lichner.

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Lichner, Ľ., Rodný, M., Marschner, B. et al. Comparison of various techniques to estimate the extent and persistence of soil water repellency. Biologia 72, 982–987 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0112

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0112

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