| High water infiltration rates in unlined canals, reservoirs, and the inflow end of furrows relative to outflow ends result in excessive seepage losses and reduced furrow irrigation application uniformity. This study evaluated the use of cross-linked, anionic, polyacrylamide hydrogel (XPAM), a water-absorbing, swellable polymer solid, for reducing infiltration and seepage losses though soil. Experiments 1 and 2 measured the influence of soil treatments on seepage rate in soil columns under constant-head conditions: Exp. 1 treated five soils with 0, 2.5, 5, and 10 g kg -1 XPAM; Exp. 2 applied combined XPAM (0-5 g kg-1) and NaC1 (0-5.1 g kg-1) treatments to a silt loam soil, and separately tested the effect ofXPAM granule size and treated soil layer... |
