Evaluating the water retention effects of AquaBoostAG30 on soil

Location:

Kruger Berries

Arbor Park, Tzaneen, 0850, Limpopo, South Africa

Scope:

The scope of this trial was to do a pot trial under controlled irrigation conditions to evaluate the effects of AquaBoostAG30 on soil water retention. The blueberry plants will also be closely monitored to assess the possibility of the phytotoxicity risk.

Method:

All the pots contained soil with established blueberry plants. Each pot contained approx. 9-10kg of soil.

Based on the recommended application rates, half of the pots had AquaBoostAG30 applied to the soil. The soil in the remaining pots was not treated and these pots are referred to as the control pots.

Before each irrigation event, each pot was weighed. The pots were then irrigated and the amount of water(ml) applied to each pot was recorded based on the increased weight of the pots.

The pots were weighed immediately after irrigation and then again 10 and 30 minutes after the irrigation event. Based on the weights of the pots at these intervals, the amount of water(ml) which was retained was calculated.

Once the water retention trial concluded, the blueberries were harvested and soil removed from the pots for assessment.

Data:

The water retention is represented on the following graph:

The detailed data for the above graph is presented on the following tables.

Table 1 shows the data and recorded measurements for the control pots.

Table 2 shows the data and recorder measurements for the pots that were treated with AquaBoostAG30.

Results and Discussion:

After 8 weeks of the trial, the results were recorded and average water retention figures calculated.

30 minutes after each irrigation event, the control pots, which did not have any AquaBoostAG30 applied, had lost 55.61% of the irrigation water which had been applied 30 minutes previously.

30 minutes after each irrigation event, the treated pots, to which AquaBoostAG30 had been applied, had lost 19.44% of the irrigation water which had been applied 30 minutes previously.

This shows that after the AquaBoostAG30 had been applied to the soil, this soil had an increase in water retention of 36.17%. This result is reflected on Graph 1 below.

The blueberry plants and soil were assessed and it was determined that no detrimental effects were evident. It was noted that in the pots with AquaBoostAG30 applied, there had been increased root growth and the plants were healthy.

Recommendations:

Based on the findings, AquaBoostAG30 is recommended for increasing water retention in the soil. No detrimental effects were found.

Summary

After 8 weeks of trials and a period of no water we can conclude the following:

1. We had an increase of 36.17% of water retention.

   1. If each plant is irrigated at 1 liter per day that is a saving of 360ml per day per plant.

2. The plants in the control pots theoretically only used 44.5% of the water irrigated.

   1. The plants in the treated pots theoretically used a total 81 % of the water irrigated.
3. Theoretically you could irrigated 360ml less per plant and still achieve the same result as the control if you are irrigating at 1 liter per plant per day.

• 360ml x 12000 plants per ha = 4320l per day
• 4320l per day x 365 days
• 1576800 liters per Ha per year saved

PLANT ROOTS AFTER NO IRRIGATION FOR 2 WEEKS DUE TO NO WATER.