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Content archived on 2024-04-30

Development of amelioration strategies to reduce environmental deterioration and agricultural production losses in water repellent regions

Objective

Project objective The overall aim of this proposal is to derive guidelines for agricultural use of water repellent regions around the world. These guidelines aim to protect the environment by reducing surface and ground water contamination and soil erosion, and help to increase production efficiency in a sustainable way. Motive Soil water repellency, which generally is caused by the presence of hydrophobic organic substances in the soil, often leads to
i) severe runoff and erosion,
ii) rapid leaching of surface-applied agrichemicals,
iii) significant loss of water and nutrient availability for crops, and
iv) low crop and pasture production.

Therefore, a strong need exists for a multidisciplinary transnational research effort to derive guidelines for sustainable use of water repellent regions aiming at minimizing environmental degradation and crop production losses. Work content Within the proposed project, a total of six work packages are distinguished comprising field data collection activities, laboratory experiments, model development and application, and testing and evaluation of various amelioration techniques. The first work package focuses on identifying water repellent soils in the field, and on deriving, and establishing international standards for measurement techniques and assessing the respective degrees of soil water repellency. The second work package aims to unravel which substances are responsible for inducing soil water repellency, and to link them to different vegetation types and management histories. The third work package aims to investigate, under controlled laboratory conditions, the water flow and transport mechanisms in undisturbed soils with differing degrees of water repellency and in soils subject to differing amelioration techniques. The fourth work package deals with extending or modifying existing water flow and transport simulation models to make them applicable to water repellent soils. In the fifth work package, field trials are planned to test various amelioration techniques in practice, and to create databases to be used for model application. The sixth work package comprises an evaluation phase, in which the various amelioration techniques will be rated according to their effectiveness in reducing runoff, erosion, and leaching of contaminants, and in increasing crop and pasture performance and production. Finally, the guidelines will be defined for optimal use and management of agricultural water repellent soils. Innovation of proposed project Although soil water repellency has been studied by many researchers from different disciplines, little is known about goodfarming' practices in water repellent areas around the world. The research activities carried out within this project are highly innovative, as they combine fundamental and practical oriented research in order to arrive at
i) a better understanding of the occurrence, causes, and processes involved in water repellent soils, and ii) guidelines for sustainable agricultural use and management to reduce runoff and erosion, leaching, and increase crop efficiency. Project deliverables The 'Contract Deliverables' consist of
i) yearly progress reports,
ii) a project summary providing insight into all aspects addressed within the individual work packages, and iii) guidelines and practical farm-notes about optimal management of agricultural water repellent soils focusing on minimizing environmental degradation and agricultural production losses. The 'Technical Deliverables' comprise
i) databases,
ii) a computer model able to simulate water flow and transport through agricultural water repellent soils at different climatic conditions, and
iii) publications in national and international technical and scientific journals.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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Coordinator

DLO WINAND STARING CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED LAND, SOIL AND WATER RESEARCH
EU contribution
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Address
Droevendaalsesteeg 3
6700 WAGENINGEN
Netherlands

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Total cost

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Participants (5)

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