Capillary Movement of Water in Two Agricultural Soils Incorporated with Inorganic Fertilizer after Load Application

Abstract.

The capillary movement of water in two agricultural soils incorporated with inorganic fertilizer (NPK) before load application was studied in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Resources Engineering, University of Maiduguri in Borno State of Nigeria. The two soils were sandy loam and sandy clay loam collected from the University of Maiduguri Research Farm and near Coca-Cola Bottling Company both in Maiduguri. The samples were collected from the top 20 cm of the soil profile. The soils were air dried and ground to pass through a 2 mm sieve mesh size. The inorganic matter content (NPK) was incorporated into the soils at 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% on percentage dry mass basis. The moisture contents of the soils were raised to 12% and the soils with their initial moisture contents were taken as control. The soil-inorganic fertilizer mixtures were placed in soil cores with heights of 30mm, 60mm, 90mm, 120mm and 150mm and then subjected to static pressure of Proctor hammer blows of 15. The capillary rise for each of the compacted soils was determined. Results showed that the addition of inorganic fertilizer (NPK) increased the time for capillary rise with increase in the percentage of inorganic fertilizer added to the soils.