Alginate and guar gum spray application for improving soil aggregation and soil crust integrity
Elijah Wade, Ryan Zowada, Reza Foudazi
Abstract
The destruction of soil through wind erosion is a common issue across the world, but especially for arid and semi-arid regions that deal with water scarcity. The cost due to wind erosion, on and off-site is gravely concerning; requiring both innovative and easily implemented methods to prevent this loss of non-renewable resource. The determining factor of soil loss due to wind erosion is the soil aggregate size, i.e. smaller aggregates are easier to move than large ones. The application of the polysaccharide spray strengthens the soil crust binding soil particles together protecting topsoil from wind erosion. Sprayable polysaccharide solutions applied to soil significantly increased the mean size aggregate diameter of soils 1.5 times thus reducing their susceptibility to wind erosion. The polysaccharide spray application also significantly increased the mechanical strength of the soil indicating an increase in soil crust integrity when applied. We determined the aggregation of the soil is dependent on the infiltration of the spray through the topsoil.