Olive Mill Effluent Spreading Effects on Water Retention of Tunisian Sandy Loam Soil

Abstract

Olive mill effluents (OME) are characterized by their nutrients content and their adhesive and hydrophobic properties. An experiment was carried out at an olive growing area in Tunisia, “Sidi Bou Ali”, to identify the impact of spreading over OME on physical soil characteristics. Three treatments were in situ monitored, namely T0 (Control), T1 (25 m3/ha) and T2 (50 m3/ha), over a period of 4 months. Measurements were conducted monthly corresponding respectively to D1, D2, D3 and D4. Water retention curves were established by a physical capillary model in porous medium. Results showed that the two applied OME doses induced a decrease in water retention, especially for potential matrixes above pF 2 corresponding to the water available range. No significant differences were found between the treated soil plots T1 and T2. doi:10.14456/WJST.2014.27

Keywords

• Olive mill effluents (OME)
• spreading
• water retention