Experimental investigation of thermo-physical properties of soil using solarisation technology

Soil Thermo-Physical Properties (TPP) depend on heat transfer
in the soil. This paper presents a study on different soil solarisation
technologies influenced by soil TPP. This study evaluates three factors: The
tillage depth for soil at three levels (15, 25 and 45 cm), the number of
plastic film at three levels (single, double and without plastic film) and
three cases of fertilizers (chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer and without
fertilizer). The parameters explored in this study include soil bulk density
(Mg/cm3), soil porosity (%), soil volumetric moisture content (cm3/cm3)
and soil thermal diffusivity (m2/sec). Data management and analysis were
performed using SAS 9.1 statistical software and the spilt-plot under
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The results show that soil
Tillage Depth (TD) strongly influences TPP, as well as a significant effect
on soil bulk density ( b), porosity ( ), volumetric moisture content ( ) and
thermal diffusivity (D). The results also reveal that a tillage depth of 15 cm
produces lower values of b, and D (1.25 Mg/cm3, 0.131 cm3/cm3 and
1.24×10−6 m2/sec, respectively) and a higher value of (52.78%). In
addition, the finding indicates that b is increased by increasing TD. There
was a significant positive correlation between the number of plastic film
and parameters studied.The soil double plastic film produced lower values
of b and D for soil (1.253 Mg/cm3, 7.76×10−7m2/sec). However, it recorded
higher values for and for soil (52.70% and 0.231 cm3/cm3,
respectively). Furthermore, the current study shows significant differences
between the types of fertilizers on b. Organic Fertilizer (OF) obtained a
lower value of b (1.2 Mg/m3), compared with chemical fertilizer and
without fertilizer (1.28 and 1.31 Mg/m3, respectively). In contrast, contrary
to expectations, this study did not find significant differences between the
types of fertilizer on D and for soil. A positive correlation was found in
the interaction between the studied factors in the parameters. Furthermore,
D increased with increasing soil bulk density (pb) and tillage depth.