Assessment of the Potential of Sugarcane Bagasse to Mitigate Clayey Soil Cracks Using Image Processing Technique: Laboratory Experiment

IN THE AGRICULTURAL soils, desiccation cracks control the …..rate and velocity at which water, solutes, and micro-organisms are transported in the soil profile, and thus significantly affect the growth and yield of crops. Therefore, the effect of bagasse added to clay soil on suppressing desiccation cracks and the influencing factors behind the cracking behavior i.e., volumetric shrinkage and water retention property of clay soil were investigated experimentally under proper laboratory environment. To fulfill this objective, clay soils were amended using bagasse at a rate of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% on the dry weight basis. Various experimental methods were used to determine the variations in volumetric shrinkage and water holding capacity, while crack intensity factor and cracking width were determined using the image processing technique by ImageJ ver. 1.47 software for different bagasse-amended soils. Results showed that fine bagasse had the potential to improve water holding capacity and reduce volumetric shrinkage strain and thus reduce the cracks development at desiccation of the clay soil. Also, results suggested that addition of bagasse to clay soil was an available and simple method to mitigate desiccation cracks, especially when mixed with soil in rates between 1 and 2% on the dry weight basis. Above this percentage reducing the development of desiccation cracks was not significant.