Rate of Water Intake in a Chernozem Soil after Seven Years’ Growth of Perennial Grasses

Where conservation of soil moisture is a major problem, grasses are desirable to keep the soil in the best physical condition for rapid intake of water and to conserve all available precipitation. The rate of water entry into soils is influenced by several physical properties of soil. Some of these properties are bulk density, total porosity, and non-capillary porosity. With emphasis on these soil properties and their effect on rate of water entry, the following experiment was planned. Several perennial warm-season and cool-season grasses, alfalfa, and crop-fallow treatment were established at the North Platte Experiment Station in the fall of 1946 and in the spring of 1947. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the effect of grass treatments on the physical properties of the soil. (2) To determine the relative rates of water entry into a Holdrege very fine sandy loam after seven years’ growth of five perennial cool-season grasses, four perennial warm-season grasses, and one crop-fallow treatment. (3) To determine the effect of ammonium nitrate applications on the physical properties of the soil. Advisor: Andrew P. Mazura