The addition of natural or synthetic zeolites induces changes in a soil’s chemical, physical, and biological characteristics. Zeolites possess intricate internal frameworks that allow them to modify soil structure and texture, thereby impacting soil hydrological properties. This potential offers opportunities to control soil and groundwater pollution as well as optimize irrigation management practices. In this study, three sandy-loam soils and a silty-loam soil were collected and mixed with different amounts of synthetic zeolite derived from coal fly ash. Repacked soil samples were combined with four levels of zeolite ranging from 1% to 10% by weight and were then hydraulically characterized. This included measuring soil water retention curves (SWRCs) of soil-zeolite mixtures. The data revealed, in accordance with recent research findings, that zeolite influences the hydraulic behavior of soils. In general, we observed that, as the percentage of zeolite increases in the soil, the SWRCs are shifted upwards. This effect is fundamental for explaining the observed changes in the whole set of investigated soil hydraulic properties. The observed changes are also fundamental to evaluate selected soil physical quality (SPQ) indices of agronomic interest, which are investigated in depth in the present research. A specific focus was on the impact of zeolite on modifying the soil’s capacity to retain water, hence on the energy required by plants to acquire a unit mass of soil water (referred to as integral energy, EI). Finally, the ANOVA test, linear regression, and multivariate analysis were performed on the entire dataset to support, from a statistical standpoint, the observed correlations between SPQ indices and zeolite amounts. These findings underscored the significance of soil texture in selecting the appropriate soil type for zeolite amendment, confirming that coarse-textured soils are more suitable for zeolite treatment compared to fine-textured soils.

中文翻译：

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合成沸石掺混不同土壤学特性对土壤物理品质指标的影响


添加天然或合成沸石会引起土壤化学、物理和生物特性的变化。沸石具有复杂的内部框架，使它们能够改变土壤结构和质地，从而影响土壤水文特性。这种潜力为控制土壤和地下水污染以及优化灌溉管理实践提供了机会。在这项研究中，收集了 3 块砂壤土和 1 块粉质壤土，并与不同量的粉煤灰合成沸石混合。重新填充的土壤样品与四级沸石混合，重量从 1% 到 10% 不等，然后进行水力表征。这包括测量土壤-沸石混合物的土壤保水曲线 （SWRC）。根据最近的研究结果，数据显示沸石会影响土壤的水力行为。一般来说，我们观察到，随着土壤中沸石百分比的增加，SWRC 会向上移动。这种效应对于解释在所研究的整套土壤水力特性中观察到的变化至关重要。观察到的变化对于评估选定的农艺兴趣土壤物理质量 （SPQ） 指数也至关重要，本研究对此进行了深入研究。特别关注沸石对改变土壤保水能力的影响，因此植物获得单位质量的土壤水所需的能量（称为整体能量，EI）。最后，对整个数据集进行方差分析、线性回归和多变量分析，以从统计角度支持观察到的 SPQ 指数与沸石数量之间的相关性。 这些发现强调了土壤质地在选择合适的沸石改良土壤类型中的重要性，证实了与细质地土壤相比，粗质地土壤更适合沸石处理。