ИСТИНА

The impact of two types of strongly swelling polymer hydrogel (SSPH) on the water retention capacity of quartz sand in pure water and Ag+ solutions (10-100 mg/l) has been studied by using a centrifugation method in a wide range of thermodynamic water potential (Gibbs energy) from 0 to 3030 J/kg. The experimental data for the water retention curves (WRC) were estimated by the van Genuchten model. Both hydrogels – the Aquasorb preparation (Germany) with hydrophilic properties and high degree of swelling in pure water (700–1000 g Н2O/g) and the new Russian amphiphilic SSPH with a peat filler (degree of swelling 500-700 g Н2O/g) were very effective as water adsorbing soil conditioners in relatively small doses from 0.05 to 0.3% per mass of dry (105oC) soil substrate . The water retention capacity of sandy substrate increases under the influence of SSPH with 2-3 times up to the level of native loamy sands and loams. Adding Ag+ to the water solution results just for the highest concentration of SSPH (0.3%) and iconic silver (100 mg/l) in a significant decrease of the water retention in the soil-gel compositions.