Trend of soil loss and sediment concentration changeability due to application of polyacrylamide

Soil erosion control is very important to natural resources conservationists and managers. For this reason، different methods and practices have been developed and used to control soil erosion. Application of soil amendments is one of the most recent technologies in soil and water conservation. However، different aspects of its application have not comprehensively been considered. Hence، the present research intended to assess the application of polyacrylamide (PAM) as an important soil amendment on soil loss and sediment concentration. The research was conducted under simulated rainfall condition in small plots on the loess soils of Bojnourd City located in Northern Khorasan Province، Iran. Accordingly، the laboratory experiments were conducted in treatments of 0 (control)، 0. 4، 0. 6، 1، 2، 3، 4 and 6 g m-2 of polyacrylamide with simulated rainfall intensity of 72 mm h−1 with 30 minutes duration in three replicates. The collected data on soil loss and sediment concentrations showed that polyacrylamide significantly reduced both soil loss (P=0. 04) and sediment concentration (P= 0. 004). The maximum sum amount of soil loss and sediment concentration were 49. 32 g and 10. 79 g/l، respectively، at control treatment and their minimum were 18. 03 g and 6. 93 g/l respectively، at 6 g/m2 level of PAM application. Also، the results showed that the polyacrylamide had no significant effect on temporal changes of soil loss and sediment concentration during event duration (P>0. 3). The results suggest that PAM، as an available amendment، can be recommended for water and soil conservation purposes.