Study of Soil Splash and Stability of Soil Aggregates using Polyvinyl Acetate

Soil erosion, especially water erosion, threatens the infrastructures, water resources and also human life. The first stage of water erosion is the splash erosion that it requires to control in the primary stages. On the other hand, the application of soil conditioners is one of the approaches that it provides the conservation possibility of soil surface against water erosion, especially erosion from raindrops. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of polyvinyl acetate conditioner with three levels of 1, 3 and 5 percent on splash erosion in scale of splash cup, in laboratory conditions and rainfall intensity of 100 mm h-1. The research results showed that the polyvinyl acetate effect in levels of 1, 3 and 5 percent on net splash and total splash was significant in level of 95 and 99 percent, respectively. The conservation percentage of net splash by polyvinyl acetate in levels of 1, 3 and 5 percent was 56.04, 63.36 and 79.48 and total splash was 52.22, 63.14 and 74.79 percent, respectively. Also, the stability study of soil aggregates in control treatment showed that the diameter range of sieves was 125, 100, 53, 38 and less than 38 micrometers, whereas, after applying polyvinyl acetate conditioner, the diameter range of 250 micrometer add to previous diameter range. Finally, it can be expressed that the polyvinyl acetate could reduce the splash erosion of soil and also increase the stability of soil aggregates.