Abstract
Particle size distribution (PSD) is the fundamental characteristic that gives information about soil physical
properties. It is the essential predictor used in most predictive programs for predicting water flux, solute, and heat
transport in soil. Predictive programs such as Rosetta, RETC, and HYDRUS-1D are usually used PSD measured by
the pipette method (PM), whereas the usage of PSD measured by laser diffraction technique (LDT) yields a large
estimation error in heavy soil. The aim of the work was to optimize PSD measured by LDT for approaching to PSD
measured by PM by suggesting Pedotransfer functions (PTFs). Furthermore, it is to evaluate the efficiency of PSD
calculated by the proposed PTFs for estimating soil hydraulic properties using Rosetta program. Particle size
distribution was measured by two methods: LDT and PM using the same dispersion factor (sodium pyrophosphate
solution 4%). Proposed PTFs were derived for calculation of particle size distribution using a linear regression
between PSD measured by LDT as an independent variable and PSD measured by PM as a dependent variable.
PSD calculated using proposed PTFs leads to optimize values of PSD measured by LDT for approaching to values
of PSD measured by PM. Optimizing PSD by proposed PTFs was suitable for calculating soil hydraulic parameters
using Rosetta program with a little estimation error, for agro-soddy podzolic with soil texture as silty loam and silty
clay loam.
Ahmed Yehia Mady, Evgeny Shein. (2019) Optimizing particle size distribution measured by laser diffraction technique for estimating soil hydraulic properties, The Journal Soil & Environment , Volume 38, Issue 2.
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