Class
Article
College
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
Faculty Mentor
Grant Cardon
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Soil health is an important part of agriculture and is becoming an issue to which more and more people are paying attention. In evaluating soil health there are many factors proposed to determine healthy soils, and one of the most reliable indicators, as identified by both academic and soil testing industry experts, is macro-aggregate stability. There is a great need for a method to make standard macro-aggregate stability soil samples for commercial and public labs and other facilities to use in quality control/quality assurance programs. We performed a screening study where different soils with widely ranging clay and organic matter content were treated with commercially available soil stabilization polymers at various mixing levels. Soils thus mixed were formed into pseudo-aggregates by extrusion through screens of various mesh sizes. We then determined the intra-sample uniformity of aggregate stability results on replicated sub-samples within each batch of aggregates, and the inter-sample reproducibility of each aggregate formation method between repeated batches of pseudo-aggregates.
Location
The North Atrium
Start Date
4-12-2018 10:30 AM
End Date
4-12-2018 11:45 AM
Developing a Soil Aggregate Stability Standard For Use in Laboratory Proficiency Testing
The North Atrium
Soil health is an important part of agriculture and is becoming an issue to which more and more people are paying attention. In evaluating soil health there are many factors proposed to determine healthy soils, and one of the most reliable indicators, as identified by both academic and soil testing industry experts, is macro-aggregate stability. There is a great need for a method to make standard macro-aggregate stability soil samples for commercial and public labs and other facilities to use in quality control/quality assurance programs. We performed a screening study where different soils with widely ranging clay and organic matter content were treated with commercially available soil stabilization polymers at various mixing levels. Soils thus mixed were formed into pseudo-aggregates by extrusion through screens of various mesh sizes. We then determined the intra-sample uniformity of aggregate stability results on replicated sub-samples within each batch of aggregates, and the inter-sample reproducibility of each aggregate formation method between repeated batches of pseudo-aggregates.