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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Soil Dynamics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #195181
Title: A HYDRAULIC CORE EXTRACTION-CUTTING DEVICE FOR SOIL-ROOT STUDIES

Author
item Kornecki, Ted
item Prior, Stephen - Steve
item Runion, George
item Rogers Jr, Hugo
item Erbach, Donald

Submitted to: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/31/2007
Publication Date: 4/1/2008
Citation: Kornecki, T.S., Prior, S.A., Runion, G.B., Rogers Jr, H.H., Erbach, D.C. 2008. A hydraulic core extraction-cutting device for soil-root studies. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 39:1080-1089.

Interpretive Summary: Solving belowground problems often requires that soil samples be taken. Methods for quickly processing large diameter cores are lacking. The device described here precisely separates large diameter cores into sections for timely analysis in the laboratory. Details of construction are provided.

Technical Abstract: A critical objective of belowground research is to collect and process representative soil samples. Mechanical devices have been developed to quickly take soil cores in the field, however, techniques to rapidly process large diameter soil cores are lacking. Our objective was to design and construct a soil extraction-cutting system that could effectively reduce processing time. Soil cores were extracted from large diameter steel core tubes using a custom hydraulic cylinder device that vertically pushes the soil core to a desired depth increment before cutting in a horizontal direction with another hydraulically driven device. As many as eight large cores per hour could be processed with this system. This system has been effectively used in processing soil samples from both agricultural and forest sites to meet desired experimental goals.