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http://dx.doi.org/10.7235/hort.2013.13040

Changes in Soil Physical Properties in Various Sizes of Container as Influenced by Packing Amount of Coir Dust Containing Root Media  

Park, Eun Young (Department of Horticultural Science, Chungnam National University)
Choi, Jong Myung (Department of Horticultural Science, Chungnam National University)
Publication Information
Horticultural Science & Technology / v.31, no.6, 2013 , pp. 720-725 More about this Journal
Abstract
When highly shrinkable materials such as coir dust are major component of root media, the degrees of compaction during container filling of root media severely influences the physical properties of root media. It results in the changes in total porosity (TP), container capacity (CC) and air-filled porosity (AFP). This research was conducted to secure the fundamental information in changes of soil physical properties as influenced by the compaction of root media during container filling. To achieve this, three root media were formulated by blending coir dust (CD) with expanded rice hull (CD + ERH, 8:2, v/v), carbonized rice hull (CD + CRH, 6:4) and ground and raw pine bark (CD + GRPB, 8:2). Based on the optimum bulk density, the amount of root media filled into 6.0, 7.5, 8.5, 10.5 and 12.5 cm were adjusted to 90, 100, 110, 120 and 130% based on the weight of root media. Then the changes in TP, CC, and AFP were measured. Elevation of the packing amount of root media in all sizes of pot resulted in the decrease of TP. But the decrease was more severe in CD + ERH and CD + CRH than those in CD + GRPB. The CC also decreased gradually as the packing amounts were elevated in three root media, but the decreases were severe as the container sizes became larger. The AFP decreased drastically by the elevation of the packing amount of root media in all sizes of pot. The AFP was the highest in CD + CRH medium when pot sizes were smaller than 7 cm, but that was the highest in CD + ERH when the pot sizes were larger than 8.5 cm among the 3 root media tested. In this research, the elevation of packing amount of three root media influenced more severely the AFP rather than CC. This result indicates that the packing amount should be controlled to maintain appropriate level of AFP because AFP rather than CC influence severely crop growth. The results obtained through this study can be used to predict the changes in physical properties of root media as influenced by packing amount in various sizes of pots.
Keywords
air-filled porosity; container capacity; total porosity;
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