The objective of this study was to observe the effects of irrigation method and polyacrylamide additions on selected soil physical properties. Polyacrylamide (PAM) was applied to fallow clay loam soil to the rate of 650 kg ha1. The PAM-treated plots were flood-irrigated at the rate of 5 cm wk-1. Untreated plots were either flood-or sprinkle-irrigated. Measurement of soil physical properties included bulk density, penetrometer resistance, aggregate stability, and infiltration rate. The surface bulk densities of sprinkle-irrigated soil and PAM-treated, flood-irrigated soils were significantly lower than the flood-irrigated control. The presence of a surface soil crust in the flood-irrigated control was evidenced by penetrometer resistance 10 times greater than the PAM or sprinkle-irrigated treatments. Aggregate stability was immediately improved from 17 to approximately 80% by the application of PAM. Improved aggregate stability (approximately 50%) lasted throughout the experiment. Infiltration rates of the PAM and sprinkle-irrigated treatments were approximately twice as great as those of the flood-irrigated control.
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Terry et al. (1986) studied this question.
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