Authors: Madusanka Priyasiri, Senani Wijewardana, Lakshman Galagedara
Identifier: CSBE19120
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Published in: CSBE-SCGAB Technical Conferences » AGM Vancouver 2019

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Description: The objectives of this research were to estimate the soil-water repellency (SWR) by using the water drop penetration time (WDPT) method and to classify the microbial population in soils. Different agricultural sites and a forest area as the control, were used. Time taken for complete penetration of a water drop (0.05 g) by adding to the soil surface was measured. Isolation of soil bacteria and fungi were also done in same soils using standard microbial analysis procedures. Results revealed that the WDPTs were less than 5 sec indicating the absence of SWR in all tested agricultural plots according to the Bisdom classifications (1993). Few forest soils showed a slight SWR (5-60 sec) in the field as well as in oven dried samples at 105oC. Even though forests in the tested area had been subjected to frequent forest fires, soils did not show SWR. Microbial analysis clearly showed a higher number of gram negative bacteria in agricultural soils where both gram negative and positive bacteria were evenly distributed in forest soils. As of the fungal classification, most of fungal species with a great diversity were found in forest soil and some common fungal species were found in agricultural soil as expected. Our results suggested that further studies are needed to identify SWR of agricultural soils under different management practices in different soil types. Additionally, developing methods to use the microbiology in advanced classification of bacteria and fungi related to the hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances they release are needed.

Keywords: agriculture, bacteria, forest, fungi, soil-water repellency
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Date: 2019-07-15
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Conference name: CSBE/SCGAB 2019 Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, 14-17 July 2019.
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Type: Poster
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Publication type: Text.Abstract
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Coverage: Canada
Language 1: en
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Rights: Canadian Society for Bioengineering
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