Author(s)

Minyoung Kim¹, Inhong Song², Minkyeong Kim³, Seounghee Kim¹, Youngjin Kim¹, Younghun Choi¹, Myungchul Seo⁴

¹Department of Agricultural Engineering, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, Korea.
²Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
³Department of Agricultural Science, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, Korea.
⁴Crop Production and Physiology Research Division, National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, Korea.

An understanding of nutrient movement in soil is important for developing management strategies to minimize nutrient leaching and surface movement, thus improving nutrient uptake by plants, maintaining a sustainable soil system, and even protecting groundwater quality. Polyacrylamide (PAM) is known as one of soil conditioner that functions to stabilize soil structure, increase infiltration, and reduce surface runoff. This study assesses the effects of PAM on the vertical movement of soil-water and major/minor nutrients (NO₃-N, NH₃-N, T-N, PO₄-P, T-P, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe) in soils. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) increases with increasing PAM concen- trations up to 10 mg·L^-1 for sand and 20 mg·L^-1 for a mixture of sand and clay. Decreases in the loss of soluble nutrients, particularly NH₃-N, PO₄-P and T-P, are observed as PAM concentrations increase. In contrast, PAM concentration has no effect on nitrate and minor nutrient levels. These results indicate that the application of PAM may be a viable method for protecting water bodies from excessive nutrients and improving nutrient availability for plants.

Polyacrylamide, Water and Nutrient Movement, Breakthrough Curve, NaCl-Tracer, Soil Column, Major & Minot Nutrients

Kim, M. , Song, I. , Kim, M. , Kim, S. , Kim, Y. , Choi, Y. and Seo, M. (2015) Effect of Polyacrylamide Application on Water and Nutrient Movements in Soils. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, 4, 76-81. doi: 10.4236/jacen.2015.43008.