Experimental Investigation of Thermo-Physical Properties of Soil Using Solarisation Technology

Soil Thermo-Physical Properties (TPP) depend on heat transfer in the soil. This paper presents a study on different soil solarisation technologies influenced by soil TPP. This study evaluates three factors: The tillage depth for soil at three levels (15, 25 and 45 cm), the number of plastic film at three levels (single, double and without plastic film) and three cases of fertilizers (chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer and without fertilizer). The parameters explored in this study include soil bulk density (Mg/cm³), soil porosity (%), soil volumetric moisture content (cm³/cm³) and soil thermal diffusivity (m²/sec). Data management and analysis were performed using SAS 9.1 statistical software and the spilt-plot under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The results show that soil Tillage Depth (TD) strongly influences TPP, as well as a significant effect on soil bulk density (ρ_b), porosity (Φ), volumetric moisture content (θ) and thermal diffusivity (D). The results also reveal that a tillage depth of 15 cm produces lower values of ρ_b, θ and D (1.25 Mg/cm³, 0.131 cm³/cm³ and 1.24×10^-6 m²/sec, respectively) and a higher value of Φ (52.78%). In addition, the finding indicates that ρ_b is increased by increasing TD. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of plastic film and parameters studied. The soil double plastic film produced lower values of ρ_b and D for soil (1.253 Mg/cm³, 7.76×10^-7m²/sec). However, it recorded higher values for Φ and θ for soil (52.70% and 0.231 cm³/cm³, respectively). Furthermore, the current study shows significant differences between the types of fertilizers on ρ_b. Organic Fertilizer (OF) obtained a lower value of ρ_b (1.2 Mg/m³), compared with chemical fertilizer and without fertilizer (1.28 and 1.31 Mg/m³, respectively). In contrast, contrary to expectations, this study did not find significant differences between the types of fertilizer on D and θ for soil. A positive correlation was found in the interaction between the studied factors in the parameters. Furthermore, D increased with increasing soil bulk density (p_b) and tillage depth.