Trends Soil Sci Plant Nutr 2012 3(1): 13-18

Trends in Soil Science & Plant Nutrition Journal

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Original Article

Effect of Animal Droppings on Thermal Properties of Dispersed Porous System.

Edem, I.D*1, EKO, P.M 2. and John, N.M3
1

Department of Soil Science University of Uyo, P.M. B.1017, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Animal Science University of Uyo, P.M. B.1017, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, 3 Department of Soil Science University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Accepted: 16.08.2012 Published:06.09.2012

Received: 05.08.2012

Abstract Four locations of sand, loam, Laterite and black-earth were chosen to best represent the area of interest and organic materials of chicken dropping, cow and goat dung were applied to the soil in order to evaluate the effect of animal manure inclusion (at 20,40 & 60 percent to soil) on soil physical indices and heat flow within the soil system. There was minimal soil disturbance during installation. Soil profile and surface conditions were carefully reconstructed with four different levels of organic materials to soil proportion; 1:5, 2: 5, 4:5 and control. And soils were repacked to the original bulk density such that there was no significant change in thermal regime of the soil. Generally, the trend of thermal conductivity for different soils followed the order of sand > loam > clay > black earth (soil from dump site). The changes between 20 and 50 % were not significant for goat dung but significantly different in cow dung. When chicken dropping was added to the soils at different rates, 20 % inclusion was similar to the conductivity of the control; further increase in the rate significantly (P< 0.05) reduced the soils conductivity. In as much as the dark colour soil is due to dominant organic material, the temperature of these soils is greatly affected by the relatively high specific heat and low conductivity of a given organic material.
Keywords: Soil Temperature; Thermal Conductivity; Heat Capacity; Heat Flow; Organic Material.

Corresponding Author: Edem ID, email: dennis.edem@gmail.com Phone: +2348027031426

INTRODUCTION Soil temperature is a very important soil property that has direct effect on plant. It varies in time and in space and is a factor of primary importance in determining the rate and direction of soil physical processes and of energy and mass exchange with the atmosphere. The amount of heat reaching the soil from heat source depends upon the heat intensity and absorption of the heat by the soil. Thermal conductivity according to Hillel (1982) is the amount of heat transferred through a unit area in a unit time under a unit temperature gradient. Soil depth and mass influence heat behaviour, regulate physical soil protection, and affect nutrient pool size. Soil temperature can affects the nitrogen (N) and carbon ( C) content rate of decomposition, nutrients availability and plant productivity (David and Janssen 2006). While organic material in the soil serves as a nutrient reservoir that can slowly be incorporated into the mineral soil by decomposition (Hungerford et.al. 1990). Biological process such as N mineralization can also be enhanced following heat transfer (Ketterings et al. 2000). The objectives of this research were to evaluate the changes in soils physical and chemical characteristics and to assess the interaction of heat flow in an effort to understand how the transports of matter and energy occur simultaneously and independent in the soil.

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Trends Soil Sci Plant Nutr 2012 3(1): 13-18

MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Site Treatment units were located within Uyo metropolis, the Akwa Ibom state capital, South Eastern Nigeria. The area is located between latitudes 400 301 and 50 31N and longitudes 70 311 and 80 201 E and altitude 65 m from the sea level. The area is divided into two distinct seasons, the wet or rainy and dry seasons. The wet or rainy season begins from April and lasts till October. It is characterized by heavy rainfall of about 2500-4000 mm per annum. The rainfall intensity is very high and there is evidenced of high leaching and erosion associated with slope and rainfall factors in the area. The dry season starts from November and lasts till March. It is characterized by high temperature with a mean annual temperature of 280C. The highest temperature is experienced between Januarys through March, the period described by Enwezor et al. (1990) as over head passage of the sun. The relative humidity is between 70% and 80%. The landscape is generally undulating to steep hills while the vegetation is mainly: the tropical rain forest. The soils are derived from sandy parent materials which are weathered with low activity clay (Udo and Sobulo 1981). Measurement Principles and Procedures Experimental Treatments This research was conducted at four locations of sand, loam, Laterite and black earth (dump site) with different inclusion of organic materials following heating. Animal droppings were dried, crushed and sieved through 8 mm sieve openings, and the following measurement were made for each of the materials; 5kg/25kg soil (20 %), 10kg/25kg soil (40%), 20kg/25kg soil (60 %) and control ( 0 %). The textural class of the soils was also determined. Installation Four locations were chosen to best represent the area of interest. Physical properties of the soil; reflectivity, presence of woody debris, vegetation, and organic matter were considered because they have significant influence on the surface energy balance and therefore on the surface and subsurface temperature (Valzano et at. 1997). There was minimal soil disturbance during installation. Soil profile and surface conditions were carefully reconstructed with four different levels of organic materials to soil proportion; 1:5, 2: 5, 4:5 and control, and soils were repacked to the original bulk density such that there was no significant change in thermal regime of the soil. Insertion of temperature sensor was in accordance to the method described by Fritschen and Gay (1979). Mini pits were dug in each of the locations to 50 cm and a board of predrilled holes at selected increment was then pushed up to

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a smoothed side of the pits with its top flush with the surface. Insulated brass of 0.5 cm diameter by 15 cm long with pointed and sealed ends, each housing an appropriate temperature sensor were pushed through the holes in the reference board into the soil. The hold was then back filled and the measured animal dung was applied and left for 14 day to equilibrate. The sensor was pushed into the hole, ensuring that there was a good contact between the sensor and the surrounding soil. And the measurement depth (15 cm) corresponded to the center of the sensor (Bristow et al. 2001). Heat was imposed on the back filled treated soils where 20 cm lead wire was buried at 15 cm depth as the sensor to minimize errors cause by heat conduction towards the sensor. Data recorded at the data logger output device were recorded from all the installations and then fitted into heat capacity equation of Hillel (1982). Heat capacity - C = mCm + oCo + wCw (1) Where, m, o, w are volume fraction of mineral matter, organic matter and water respectively and Cm, Co, Cw, = refers to the heat capacities of the same constituent thermal conductivity was also calculated from = Qd/A+T (2) where, Q = Thermistor readings d = effective depth A = cross sectional area of the soil T = temperature difference Sample Processing and Analysis Soil bulk density was determined based on the total mass and volume of each sample. Air-dried soils were sieved to < 2 mm, and subsamples were used for the following analyses; Particle size distribution was analysed using the hydrometer method (Day 1965) following H2O2 oxidation of organic matter and dispersion with sodium hexametaphosphate. The soil pH was measured in 1:2.5 (w/v) of veil: wafer with glass electrode on a pH meter. Organic carbon was determined by the wet oxidation method (Walkley and Black, 1934). Exchangeable contents of the soils were determined by extraction with 1N ammonium acetate (NH4OAc) at pH 7. Exchangeable Ca and Mg in the extract were determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer and K and Na by flame photometry. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) was calculated as the sum of the exchangeable potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium. Total N and total P were determined by digestion of the soil with H2SO4 and H2O2. For all samples the concentration of P was determined colorimetrically in filtered samples by the molybdenum-blue method (Murphy and Riley 1962), while total N was determined by the Kjeldahl method. All analyses were carried out in duplicate.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The selected soil properties under different proportion of organic material from the four sites within the zone (data not shown) revealed that, the particle size analysis with the exception of the sandy location generally decreased the sand contents in the topsoils while the clay contents were increased, giving rise to sandy clay loam to sandy clay texture. In all, application of organic material did not modify the texture of the soils because of the intrincity of soil texture. The specific heat capacity of any substance is the calories of heat required to raise one gram one degree on the centigrade scale. The heat capacity of a soil is its specific heat times its mass. The contribution of organic materials and water in the soil greatly influenced the relatively specific heat capacity of a given soil. It may be seen from the data in Table 1 that specific heats of various solid soil constituents differ greatly at different proportion of added organic materials. Before addition of organic material in the soils, the specific heat capacity of Sand, Loam, Laterite and Black earth were 21.89, 39.55, 15.56 and 36.35 10-3 calcm-3 respectively. At 20 % inclusion of cow dung, specific heat capacity varied from 3.8128.89 10-3 calcm-3 with a mean of 17.01 10-3 calcm-3 the corresponding values at 40 % inclusion were 1.94, 13.91, 6.86 and 4.80 10-3 calcm-3 for Sand, Loam , Laterite and black earth respectively, with a mean specific capacity of 6.88 10-3 calcm-3 . But 60 % inclusion of cow dung varied the specific heat capacity from 5.59 - 31.52 10-3 calcm-3 with a mean value of 14.69 10-3 calcm-3 It was found that, 20 % chicken dropping reduced the specific heat capacity of sand to 14.49 10-3calcm-3 , Laterite to 15.12 10-3calcm-3 and black earth to 14.86 10-3calcm-3 , and increased loam to 57.30 10-3calcm-3 . When the proportion of the dropping was increased to 40 %, specific heat capacity further reduced to 10.68, 12.64, 9.67, and 6.65 10-3calcm-3 in sand, loam, Laterite and black earth respectively. When the ratio of chicken dropping was increased to 4:5 (dropping / soil), specific heats raised correspondingly to 46.32 10-3calcm-3 in sand, 13.38 103 calcm-3 in loam and 17.78 10-3calcm-3 in Laterite, and slightly to 6.89 10-3calcm-3 in black earth with a mean specific heat of 21.09 10-3calcm-3 . When 20 and 40 % of goat dung were added to the soil , specific heat capacity significantly and respectively reduced to 4.56 and 2.67 10-3 calcm-3 in sand, 19.35 and 9.44 10-3 calcm-3 in loam, while in Laterite, specific heats were 15.37 and 9.79 10-3calcm-3 whereas specific heats capacity for black earth were 8.92 and 9.23 10-3calcm-3 .As the proportion was increased to 60 %, specific heat equally

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increased in sand 8.95, loam 31.52, Laterite 28.26 and black earth 10.41 10-3 calcm-3 with an average specific heat of 19.79 10-3calcm-3 Table 1 Variation in specific heat capacity of soils at different proportion of organic materials
Specific heat capacity (10-3cal/cm3) Black Materials OM % Sand Loam Laterite earth soil only CD CD CD CH CH CH 0 20 40 60 Mean 20 40 60 Mean 20 40 60 Mean 21.982 3.813 1.937 5.587 3.779 14.489 10.677 46.316 23.827 4.559 2.669 8.947 5.392 39.546 28.889 13.906 31.519 24.771 57.304 12.642 13.383 27.776 19.349 9.439 31.519 20.102 15.562 27.115 6.864 15.628 16.536 15.119 9.667 17.757 14.181 15.365 9.791 28.267 17.808 68.319 8.212 4.800 6.032 6.348 14.862 6.646 6.893 9.467 8.923 9.231 10.408 9.521 Mean 36.352 17.007 6.877 14.691 12.858 25.443 9.908 21.087 18.813 12.049 7.782 19.785 13.206

GD GD GD

Specific Heat Capacity-Organic Material Interactions The interaction of specific heat capacity x organic material was established by plotting. A study (Figure 1) of specific heat capacity x organic material means of different soils combined into a single graph showed that significant high specific heat capacity ( 10-3calcm-3) were observed in Black earth before organic material applications, also when 20 % chicken dropping was added to Loam and 60 % in sand soil types. The specific heat capacity pattern from those other combinations were below 35 10-3calcm-3 even in the free state. Despite the sudden increase in specific heat capacity of loam on addition of 20 % chicken dropping, subsequent increase inclusion of dropping reduced specific heat more the 50 %. The data from black earth support the hypothesis of low heat capacity of peat soil due to high proportion of aeration pores. Soils Thermal Conductivity The amount of heat reaching the soil from heat source depends upon the heat intensity and absorption of the heat by the soil. Thermal conductivity according to Hillel (1982) is the amount of heat transferred through a unit area in a unit time under a unit temperature gradient. The temperature of soil is determined to a considerable extent by its own properties .It depends upon factors responsible for differences in intensity of absorption of heat such as colour.

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Table 2 Changes in Thermal conductivity (500C) of soils at different level of Organic Materials inclusion (%)
Thermal conductivity (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) Org. matter % 0 20 50 80 Mean CH CH CH 20 50 80 Mean GD 20 50 80 Black earth 20.692 3.792 2.600 3.331 7.604 6.067 3.467 3.807 4.447 4.334 5.200 6.663

Materials soil only CD CD CD

Sand 9.455 7.848 8.667 40.446 16.604 1.962 1.529 4.667 2.719 2.825 2.167 7.584

Loam 14.463 13.596 7.259 27.843 15.790 27.193 7.259 11.137 15.196 7.769 4.839 27.843

Laterite 4.473 8.486 2.417 7.656 5.758 4.629 3.491 10.208 6.109 4.629 3.491 15.312

Mean 12.271 8.431 5.236 19.819 11.439 9.963 3.936 7.455 7.118 4.889 3.924 14.350 7.721

Figure 1 Specific heat-organic material interactions in different soils

Another factor is differences in specific heat of the soil such as compaction and moisture content and next is variation in heat conductivity. Therefore, these results provide a semi-quantitative interpretation of observed influences of soil surface condition, including the presence of organic materials on the soils thermal regime. At this point, attention of this study is called to differences in heat conductivity resulting from addition of organic material at different proportions. The significance of the heat conductivity of various soils is shown by data of Table 2 and Figures 2-8.

GD GD

Mean 4.192 13.484 7.811 5.399 CD= cow dung, GD = goat dung , CH = chicken dropping

Figure 3 Thermal conductivity in different soils with chicken dropping

Figure 2 Thermal conductivity in different soils with Goat dung

Application of cow dung to soils results in a progressively increasing thermal conductivity in sand from 7.848 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) at 20 % inclusion to 8.667 and 40.446 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) at 40 and 60 % inclusions respectively. Relatively, high amount of heat (more than in 20 and 40 % inclusions) was conducted in sand when there was no addition of this organic material. Thermal conductivity in Loam, Laterite and Black earth were irregularly distributed with cow dung application. These irregular patterns of conductivity emphasize the importance

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of curing the organic materials in the respective soils before heat application and measurement.

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changes in heat conductivity were noticed when chicken dropping was added to soils. The highest conductivity in sand was observed at 60 % inclusion. The same premise held for Loam and inversely related in Black earth. There was no significant change in lateritic soil. Generally, the trend of thermal conductivity for different organic materials (Figs. 5-8) revealed that 60 % goat and cow dung were significantly higher than the control. The changes between 20 and 40 % were not significant for goat dung but significantly different in cow dung. When chicken dropping was added to the soils at different rates, 20 % inclusion was similar to the conductivity of the control, further increase in the rate significantly (P< 0.05) reduced the soils conductivity. In as much as the dark colour soil is due to organic material, the temperature of these soils is greatly affected by the relatively high specific heat and low conductivity of a given organic material. The thermal conductivities of specific soil constituents differ very markedly (Figure 8).

Figure 4 Thermal conductivity in different soils with Cow dung

Depending on organic material quantity and soil type, 60% chicken dropping to soil reduced thermal conductivity from 9.455 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) to 4.667 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) in sandy soil. Whereas 40% inclusion of droppings further reduced heat conductivity to 1.529 (10 -6cal/cm/sec0C) and 1.962(10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) with 20% dropping. The result in loam revealed that 20 % dropping increased the conductivity to 27.193 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C), and suddenly dropped to 7.259 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) at 40 % inclusion and to 11.137 (10 -6 cal/cm/sec0C) on addition of 60 % chicken dropping to the soil. Changes in thermal conductivity for Laterite at different chicken dropping compositions show significant high thermal conductivity at 60 % dropping and changes at 20 % and 40 % inclusions were not significantly different from the thermal conductivity before addition. Results for black earth soil type without chicken manure showed thermal conductivity of 20.692 (10-6 cal/cm/sec0C) and significant conductivity decline during the manure addition at various proportion Thermal conductivity of goat dung dropped in all the soils at 40 % inclusion. Increase in thermal conductivity was observed in loamy and lateritic soils at 60 % addition of dung. Comparison of Thermal Conductivity in Different Soils As shown in Figure 2, thermal conductivity of goat dung at 20 % inclusion was significantly lower than the control and 60 % treatments in sand. The treatment of 60 % showed highly significant thermal conductivity followed by control in loam soil. There was no difference in thermal conductivity of Lateritic soil except at 60 % inclusion. The reverse was true in Black earth soil, thermal conductivity declined immediately as goat dung was applied. Furthermore,

Figure 5 Comparison of Thermal conductivity at different rate of Goat dung

Figure 6 Comparison of Thermal conductivity at different rate of chicken dropping

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Steady and regular thermal conductivity from these soils is not widespread occurrence on addition of droppings. It may have been affected by bulk density and wetness as well as the internal sources and sinks of heat operating at a time. The space-average thermal conductivity of these soils depends upon its mineral composition and organic matter content as well as water content, hence low thermal conductivity. This explains the fact that soils dominant of sand fractions have higher specific heat capacities than those dominated with organic materials and emphasizes the need for organic material inclusion in arable soil in order to check earlier warm up of soils during sunny days.

Figure 7 Comparison of Thermal conductivity at different rate of Cow dung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thanks BGI Resources laboratory LTD PHC. For providing the needed equipments and analysis of data and Mrs. May Innih Dennis for her valuable comments. REFERENCES
Bristow KL, Kluitenberg GJ, Goding CJ, Fitzgerald TS, 2001. "A small multi-needle probe for measuring soil thermal properties, water content and electrical conductivity". Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 31 (3): 265280. doi:10.1016/S0168-1699(00)00186-1 Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_thermal_properties Daniel Hillel, 1980. Fundamental of Soil physics. Academic Press, New York. Davidson EA, and Janssen IA. 2006. Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440, 165173. Day PR, 1965. Particle fractionation and Particle size analysis. Pages 454567 in C. A. Black (ed) method of analysis: No. 9 Monogr. Ser. Part 1 American Society of Agronomy Enwezor WO, Udo EJ, Ayorade WA, Adepuju J, and Chude VO, 1990. A Review of Soil and Fertilizer use Research in Nigeria. In: Literature Review on Soil Fertility Investigation in Nigeria. Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources., Lagos, pp.53-100 Fritchen LI, and Gay LW, 1979. Environmental instrumentation. SpringerVerlag,New York. Hungerford RD, Harrington MG, Frandsen WH, Ryan RC, and Niehoff JG, 1991. Influence of fire no factors that affect site productivity. Symposium on management and productivity of western Montana forest soils. Ketterings QM, Bigham JM, Laperche V, 2000. Changes in soil mineralogy and texture caused by slash-and-burn fires in Sumatra, Indonesia. Soil Science Society of America Journal 64: 11081117 Udo EJ, and Sobulo SA, 1981. Acid sands of southern Nigeria. Soil Science Society of Nigeria spec. Publication Monogr. No. 1: 615 Valzano IP, Greene RSB, Murphy BW, 1997. Direct effect of Stubble Burning in a direct drill tillage system. Soil and Tillage Research 142: 209-219 Walkey A, and IA. Black, 1934. An Examination of the method for determining soil organic matter a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration methods. Soil Science 37: 29-38

Figure 8 Trend of thermal conductivity of various organic materials

CONCLUSION Results from the study have shown that organic manure inclusion at any rate significantly dampen heat transfer in black-earth, whereas improved heat conductivity was noticed in soils fortified with animal manure. Organic amendments are require to improving the thermal regime and physico-chemical indices of the studied soils (except black earth). The optimum thermal conductivity of 8.66 x 10-6 cal/cm/sec/0C was achieved at 40 % CD inclusion in sandy soil and this will greatly improve germination and the growth of arable crops grown on acid sands. Therefore, 20-40 % organic amendments is recommended for lateritic soil as these will ameliorate heavy fine particles and hence improved the production capacity of this soil .

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