Abstract
TIULIN1 showed that the stability of soil crumbs in water is greater from grassland than from corresponding arable soils. Since then, much work has been done to find out how this increase in stability is brought about by the soil organic matter. A review of this work is given by Baver2. In recent years it has been discovered that small additions to the soil of various synthetic polymers, called soil conditioners, also stabilize soil crumbs. The polymers can be either non-ionic, such as polyvinyl alcohol3, or carboxylated polymers, such as polyacrylic acid4.
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References
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EMERSON, W. Stability of Soil Crumbs. Nature 183, 538 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/183538a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/183538a0
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