Influence of soil conditioning in the evaluation of soil structure stability as affected by irrigation with saline water

BACKGROUND.The stability of a soil can be assessed by different methods capable of quantifying characteristics responsible for the soil aggregation. Several indicators can be used to quickly measure the stability of the soil structure; these indicators vary in terms of sensitivity and capacity of discriminating among soils and treatments. This experiment aimed at testing the sensitivity of a modified soil structure stabiloity test. RESULTS. The WSDI method demostrated better sensitivity to the disaggregation and dispersion of the water action, enhacing the resolution capacity of the test. The ESP and ECe values, observed after on and three years of saline irrigation, showed a progressive soil salinization related to the salt quantity delivered with the irrigation water. CONCLUSION. The modification of the standard method for determining the soil structure stability, consisting of the elimination of sample pre-wetting, permitted a better sensitivity of the test to the different levels of salinity treatments under trial.