Effect of Polyacrylamide on Soil Water Content as A Soil Conditioner

Soil conditioners that can be used is polyacrylamide (PAM). In general, PAM is applied to flocculate solids in liquids such as for water treatment, papermaking processes. The use of soil conditioners, especially with PAM, can absorb water up to several times its dry weight. In addition, PAM also has important environmental benefits, soil conservation and irrigation efficiency for agriculture making its use economically feasible. The use of PAM as a soil conditioner has the potential not only to increase crop production but also to minimize percolation and evaporation losses of irrigation water. However, soil conservation activities using PAM to absorb water in increasing the efficiency of water use for plants have not been sufficiently utilized. Therefore, this research was conducted to find out how much benefit the effect of polyacrylamide has on increasing the soil's water holding capacity using laboratory experiments. polyacrylamide as a soil conditioner can increase soil water content. The highest soil water content was found in the P6 treatment (10% Polyacrylamide). The higher the dose of polyacrylamide, the soil water content will be high. The use of polyacrylamide has the potential to reduce the frequency of irrigation.