Simultaneously with the experiment at Estonian University of Life Sciences, an analogous growth substrate/granule experiment was carried out at Tallinn University, using a different methodology – the loss of water at high temperatures was estimated by the “pot weighing method.”
Conclusions
Adding the granules increased the water capacity of the substrate by more than twofold (2.1) compared to the water capacity of the soil. Even though the rate of water evaporation from the soil and the substrate were statistically equal, it took two times longer for the water to evaporate from the substrate because there was nearly twice as much water than in the soil.
Reporter:
Maarika Alaru
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Chair of Crop Science and Plant Biology
Researcher
E-mail: maarika.alaru@emu.ee
Phone: +37253005867
Tartu, 11.11.2015
