Physicochemical Properties of Root Zone Soil Based on Sand Blending with Zeolite and Perlite

Bon-Soon Ku1   Young-Sun Kim12   Mun-Jin Choi1   Eun-Ji Bae3   Geung-Joo Lee4,*   

1Department of Horticultural Science, Daegu University, Gyeongsan 38453, Korea
2Institute of Natural Sciences, Daegu University, Gyeongsan 38453, Korea
3Forest Biomaterials Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, Jinju 52817, Korea
4Department of Horticulture and Department of Smart Agriculture Systems, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the mixed ratio of zeolite and perlite as soil amendment on the soil physicochemical properties applied to golf course green. The soil amendments were 0, 3, 5, 7 and 10% by soil volume. Soil chemical factors such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and cation exchangeable capacity (CEC) were increased by higher proportion of zeolite amount, while not significantly different perlite addition. Soil physical factors like capillary porosity, air-filled porosity and total porosity were increased perlite proportion, while not significantly different in zeolite treatments. For correlation coefficients between percentage of soil amendments and soil physicochemical factor, zeolite was positively correlated with CEC (p<0.01), and perlite showed positive correlation with porosity and hydraulic conductivity (p<0.01). These results indicate that zeolite improved cation exchangeable capacity, and perlite was found to modify a water permeability and root zone aero-environment.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1. Linear regression between blending ratio of soil amendments like zeolite and perlite and main soil factor. A: Correlation coefficient between blending ratio of zeolite and CEC (cation exchangeable capacity); B: Correlation coefficient between blending ratio of perlite and total porosity. ** represents a significance at the 0.01 probability, respectively..