A new soil core sampler for determination bulk density in soil profile

Abstract

The portable soil core sampler was engineered for gradual sampling of soil profile in the depth up to 0.5 m, which ensures extraction of the whole sample volume of soil profile in determinable depth. The portable soil core sampler was compared with the professional soil probe Eijkelkamp P1.31 (Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment, Netherlands) in field conditions. The portable sampler was compared with the physical soil sample rings in laboratory conditions to eliminate all of possible restrictive aspects affecting the procedure of measurement. The portable soil core sampler with inner diameter 71 mm, depth 120 mmenables gradually take samples of soil profile by step of 50 mmand is able to detect possible local extremes. On the other hand a soil probe is not able to reach desired accuracy in taking of a soil sample. Values measured from a soil probe approximately taken by step of 150 mmare inaccurate. The values of bulk density of both sampling methods were variable at significant interval from 40 into 80 kg/m3. Different values could be caused by soil profile condition and by the use of different sampling methods. The design of a portable soil sampler should be of assistance in fast and precise soil profiling sample collection, which is required to determine bulk density of the soil, its variance depending on moisture content in soil compaction determining criteria.

Keywords

• soil
• soil sampler
• soil compaction
• soil profile