Mechanism of soil environmental regulation by aerated drip irrigation

Abstract

Soil is the foundation of food security, water safety and wider ecosystem security. China's water resources is featured by its poverty and uneven distribution. Flood irrigation in traditional agriculture not only uses large amount of water, but also destroys soil aggregate structure, resulting in soil degradation, such as soil compaction and soil salinization. Underground drip irrigation have obvious water saving efficiency with the effective utilization rate of water larger than 95%, but it will also destroy the soil structure to a certain extent. It has been reported in many researches that using aerated water drip irrigation can not only increase crop yields, but also improve crop quality. The influence of several factors such as the burial depth of drop head, the frequency of dripping, the amount of irrigation, the growth period of plant, the mode of aerating and the equipment and so on, and the effects of the aerated drip irrigation on the water environment, the air environment, the microbial environment, the nutrient environment and the mineral environment of soil are summarized. And the regulation mechanism of soil environment by the aerated drip irrigation is put forward. The changes in water, gas, microorganism, nutrition and minerals are the result of the change of soil structure. The experimental results of in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray computed tomography confirmed that aerated drip irrigation can change the structure of soil.