Hydrogel performance on plant growth and leachate electrical conductivity under high water availability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14295/bjs.v5i9.856Keywords:
water retention, nutrient loss, salinization, Triticum aestivumAbstract
Hydrogels have been proposed as a strategy to reduce the leaching of highly soluble nutrients, such as nitrogen and potassium, in agricultural systems. However, the literature lacks evaluations of hydrogel performance under conditions of high water availability, a scenario in which the effectiveness of nutrient retention may be compromised; this is a relevant gap since intense rainfall events are among the main factors associated with nutrient loss in the soil. This study evaluated the performance of hydrogels in mitigating nitrogen and potassium leaching in wheat plants (Triticum aestivum) subjected to irrigation simulating high rainfall (4 mm day⁻¹). The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, in a completely randomized design, with six treatments: control without fertilization; pure hydrogel; hydrogel incorporated with base fertilization; hydrogel incorporated with total cycle fertilization; base fertilization in solid form; and total cycle fertilization in solid form. Plant height was evaluated at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after sowing, in addition to shoot and root dry mass and leachate electrical conductivity at the end of the experiment. Fertilized treatments, regardless of the application method, promoted greater growth and biomass accumulation than the control and pure hydrogel. However, the leachate electrical conductivity was higher in treatments with hydrogel than in equivalent doses applied in solid form, indicating that the hydrogel did not reduce solute loss under these conditions. The results demonstrate that, under high water availability, hydrogel does not offer an advantage over conventional fertilization in nitrogen and potassium retention, contradicting some of the expectations generated by previous studies conducted mainly under water deficit conditions. The main contribution of this work is to highlight that the effectiveness of hydrogel as a nutrient retention tool is strongly dependent on the water regime and cannot be generalized to scenarios of excessive rainfall. This finding provides direct support for agricultural management, indicating that the adoption of hydrogels to reduce nutrient losses should be carefully considered and take into account local rainfall conditions, avoiding generic recommendations based solely on their performance under water stress.
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