1st International Congress on Biosystems Engineering , Hatay, Türkiye, 24 - 27 Eylül 2019, ss.38
One of the most characteristic properties of sandy soils is low water-holding capacity which results
excessive drainage of rain or irrigation water from the root zone. Organic fertilizers are advised to improve
water holding capacity of sandy soils. We conduct an experiment to evaluate the potential of plant growth
promoting bacteria (PGPB) and sewage sludge (SS) as an ecological, environment friendly organic fertilizer
on improving water holding capacity of sandy soil. We measured hydraulic conductivity, soil water retention
characteristics, and water evaporation of PGPB and SS applied sandy soil by using the HYPROP system
which determines the soil water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity curve based on a simplified
evaporation method. The soil was incubated with 5 t da-1
SS and 30 L da-1
formulated PGPB separately and
together to investigate their individual effect on sandy soil. Measured parameters indicated that sandy soil
hydraulic properties were improved by application of PGPB and SS. The positive contribution of
experimented materials on soil hydraulic conductivity and water retention in sandy soils is meaningful
because our results provide support to contribute to solving globally problematic issues such as soil
degradation and water shortage.