I wish to collect the samples of water percolating below the crop root zone, say at 100 cm below soil surface. These samples will be analysed to estimate the fertiliser leaching losses from the field. Is there any low cost technique to collect such samples. I do not have lysimeters.
Hi Santosh,
You can use ‘porous ceramic cup solution samplers’. These are relatively low-cost and can be installed at the desired soil depth. Once installed properly, they can be used for recurrent sampling of soil solution over a complete growing season or even longer. We have used them very effectively, continuously for over three years in one of our field experiment (See Jayasundara et al. 2007 below). Detailed descriptions related to their construction and installation can be found in the other two papers.
-Susantha.
Curley et al 2010. Porous Ceramic Cups: Preparation and Installation of Samplers for Measuring Nitrate Leaching. http://scialert.net/qredirect.php?doi=ijss.2010.19.25&linkid=pdf
Lord and Shepherd 1993. Developments in the use of porous ceramic cups for measuring nitrate leaching. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2389.1993.tb00466.x/abstract
Jayasundara et al 2007. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225926417_Minimizing_nitrogen_losses_from_a_corn-soybean-winter_wheat_rotation_with_best_management_practices?ev=prf_pub
Article Minimizing nitrogen losses from a corn–soybean–winter wheat ...
We also used porous ceramic cups installed at different depths of paddy field for periodic collection of leachate and monitoring of leaching loss of nitrate under canal irrigation command in Khurda district, Odisha, India during the years 2001 to 2005. By using hand operated suction pump, we used to take out the leachate collected inside the porous cups (without disturbing installation) for laboratory analysis of nitrate. This setup gave satisfactory results.
We used porous ceramic cups, epoxied to various lengths of plastic pipe, stopper with two holes, one with short tube, another to bottom. Post hole digger or soil sampler probe can be used to dig access hole of large size or exact size. Backfill as needed, use bentonite to seal off levels if desired and sand or other suitable fill from site. Vacuum pulls in sample, pressure pushes sample out. I am not sure of the detail provided in our 1975 researchgate report on sewage irrigation and ground water sampling. One concern I might have is how frequent to sample to catch leachate over time periods, as fertilizer probably moves the most with storm flushes. If you could afford well with recording water level transducer as Onset Hobo, it would help you determine frequency of water level increases, and need for sampling. Just as streams have hydrograph, so do water tables replenished by percolation typically on uplands, but sometimes flooding, lateral or other flow may be involved.
Another approach would be to excavate a soil pit, and insert a plastic or other pan under the soil at 100 cm to collect the water percolating downward, and funnel it into a bottle or container, which could be removed, measured for volume and used for analysis. The excavated area for pan needs to be large enough to collect enough water for analysis, and probably best done when soil is somewhat dry so it does not collapse or alter flow path from surface, as you dig and insert pan and gravity fed collection system.
Fertilizing can have a degree of uneveness, but for your plot(s), careful coverage is needed. Collecting and sampling rainfall for amount and quality is also typically done for this type of study.
If plowing and other surface disturbances are common activities, you might be ok in excavating soils and putting them in a more controlled structure, such as a 100 gallon stock tank (heavy plastic), with hole in bottom to collect percolated water. This is more or less a lysimeter approach.
Thank you Dr Susantha, Dr Kundu and Dr Hansen.
From all your responses, I understand that porous ceramic cups are easy to install and monitor in the field. With the help of suction pump the collected samples can be taken out at required frequency. This approach suits me the best.
Thank you for your time and valuable suggestions.
Good discussion by Drs.Jayasundara,Kundu and Hansen.The reply of Dr.Hansen is more elaborate and educative.I compliment all the three for their contributions.
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