Ability of moisture absorbing substrate to conserve percolating water

Though water is the most abundant natural resource on the earth, in most occasions, it is limited to agriculture especially in dry spells and dry regions. This is aggravated by higher losses from evaporation as well as percolation. If a method adopts to trap percolating water that would be one of the appropriate alternatives which helps to survive plants during dry climates and increase the water use efficiency. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the possibility of reducing percolation by using moisture absorbing substrate beneath the root zone. Three moisture absorbing substrates i.e sponge, biochar and sawdust were used as treatments and a control experiment was conducted without any water absorbing material. Treatmentswere arranged as Complete Randomized Design with three replicates. Treatments were buried at 20 cm depth as 5 cm layer separated by high gauge polythene. In a 90cm×180cm plot, 12 chilli (Capsicum annuum) plants were planted as two plants per hole.All recommended agronomic practices were carried out.Soil moisture content was maintained above 50 % allowable depletion level by measuring it dailythroughout the experiment, supplying the deficiency. Days to 50% flowering, plant height at 50% flowering, first harvesting yield, plant biomass and root biomass were measured.There were no significant differences in plant height, days to 50% flowering, plant biomass or root biomass between treatments. It indicates that there was no any moisture stress among treatments. However, there was a significant difference among the treatments in water usage by the crop throughout the duration. The water usage was significantly lower in sponge compare to other treatments. It means sponge material can conserve water at the rate of 992.59 m3/ha without any effect on the yield. Therefore, a substrate can be used to effectively conserve soil moisture by reducing the percolation and sponge is the best among tested treatments.