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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #67392
Title: USE OF POLYACRYLAMIDE TO REDUCE SOIL SURFACE SEALING

Author
item Norton, Lloyd

Submitted to: Furrow Irrigation Induced Soil Erosion Polyacrylamide Seminar
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Surface sealing lowers water entry producing runoff, detaching soil and causing inefficient distribution of water in a field. Mechanisms leading to a sealed surface are both physical and chemical in nature. The physical aspects can largely be controlled by protection of the surface by residues or other means while chemical processes leading to sealing are unaffected. We evaluated the use of anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) for preventing sealing and erosion under simulated rainfall and flow in several studies. The objective of this paper is to summarize the results of these studies. We found that application of PAM in simulated rainwater produced more erosion than without. Application of PAM to the soil and drying produced lesser runoff and erosion. Flowing water down rills when PAM was still wet produced more erosion than the control while allowing it to dry produced little. Some soils produced similar erosion to untreated even though PAM was dried. These results indicate that the method of application, the timing of flow after application and soils are major variables that can affect the utilization of PAM for use in erosion control.