Аннотация:Purpose Polymer-based soil ameliorants are considered effective tools to protect soil from wind and water erosion. In the article, five promising modern ameliorants were examined: hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (HYPAN), two humic commercial products and two binary mixtures composed of HYPAN and humates at 10/1 wt/wt ratio to evaluate their effects on soil structuring, anti-erosion and hydrophysical properties.Methods Polymer aqueous formulations were 1) sprayed over sandy loam soil, or 2) injected into the soil. The obtained polymer-soil constructs were tested for mechanical strength, aggregate composition, anti-erosion stability, water retention capacity and biocompatibility. Results When sprayed over the soil, the formulations penetrate the soil to a depth of 0.5 cm. Drying the soil with deposited polymers results in polymer-soil coatings with mechanical strength varied from 0.7–1.3 kg cm–2 for humates to 4.1–6.7 kg cm–2 for HYPAN-based formulations. HYPAN coatings provide a 100% soil resistance at an air flow speed of 72 km h–1 and only 5–7% loss of soil when re-watering. Treatment of soil with HYPAN-based formulations results in a higher water capacity and a better retention of water, where content of agronomically valuable aggregates 0.25–1 mm increases from 34 to 51 wt%. Addition of humates to HYPAN solutions has negligible effect on the mechanical, hydrophysical and anti-erosion properties of the treated soil and stimulates growth of plants.Conclusion The results obtained are important to develop polymer ameliorants with anti-erosion, water-retaining and biostimulating properties.
