Comparison of the effects of Super absorbent and Vermicompost at different levels of irrigation water salinity on soil moisture storage

High water rise in capillary tubes of clay soils causes a high loss of moisture in hot-arid regions. By considering clay soil's feature that do not absorb so much water, soils which contain these kinds of clays do not have a high capacity for retaining water. In order to investigate the effect of super absorbent and vermicompost on volumetric water content in various levels of irrigation water salinity, 12 plots of 1*1 m2 were created. An experiment was conducted in 4 levels of irrigation water salinity 0.79 (control), ‌5, 10, 15 dS/m in presence of super absorbent and vermicompost within 0.02 and 1.5 kg /plot and control plot. Water content was measured within 1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th and 13th day after irrigation by TDR method in each plot. Results showed that adding amendments did not have a significant effect on water content in 95% confidence level. Bilateral effect of salinity and amendments showed increasing salinity, pose decrease of super absorbent performance in water retention, since its ionic structure. The most water retention attained in high salinity level and as time passed, moisture losses in vermicompost plots became more than super absorbent plots.