Soil & Tillage Research, 16 (1990) 289-297 289

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - - Printed in The Netherlands

Organic-Matter Effects on Soil Strength Properties

E.I. EKWUE
Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri (Nigeria)
(Accepted for publication 5 December 1989)

ABSTRACT

Ekwue, E.I., 1990. Organic-matter effects on soil strength properties. Soil Tillage Res., 16: 289-
297.

Measurements of bulk density, moisture retention, aggregate stability and shear strength were
taken for sandy loam and loamy sand soils with different organic-matter contents ranging from
1.23 to 5.64%. Organic matter in soils originated from either being under grass treatment for some
years or mixing two forms of peat each at 4, 11 and 17% rates to a control soil. Aggregate stability
was measured by the percentage water stable aggregates (WSA) as well as individual aggregate
energy (IAE) measured using single drop impact test. Organic matter from grass significantly
increased percentage WSA from 2.15 to 21.62% and IAE from 4 to 33 mJ. While percentage WSA
reduced significantlyfrom 2.50 to 0.88 with increasing peat content, the IAE reduced only slightly
from 3.93 to 3.45 mJ. This suggests that peat reduces the overall soil stability without affecting
the strength of individual aggregates.
Organic matter from both grass and peat reduced bulk density and increased moisture retention.
While organic matter from grass increased soil shear strength from 19.17 to 24.44 kN m -2, thai;
from peat reduced it from 15.47 to 11.90 kN m -2. The effects of both forms of organic matter on
bulk density and moisture retention were expected to have reduced their strengths. However, since
organic matter from grass improved aggregate stability, it reduced soil dispersion in water and
improved shear strength, while peat only made the soil aggregates fall apart and reduced their
shear strengths. The results from this study show that the influence of organic matter on soil shear
strength depends on whether or not it improves soil aggregate stability.

INTRODUCTION

The properties that affect the shear strength of soils are of great importance.
They are required to predict seedling emergence, soil erodibility, bearing ca-
pacity of soils and traction required to pull farm implements.
Considerable attention has been paid to the effect of organic matter on ag-
gregate stability, bulk density and moisture retention of soils. Organic matter
improves aggregate stability by decreasing the wetability or hydration effects
of soil aggregates by water (Greenland, 1965). However, not all organic ma-
terials improve soil aggregate stability. While Low (1954) and Williams and

0167-1987/90/$03.50 © 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

290 E.I. EKWUE

Cooke ( 1961 ) observed the stabilising effect of organic matter originating from
grass, Greenland et al. (1975) and Caldwell and Richardson (1975) did not
observe such stabilising effects of peat. The reduction of soil bulk density and
increases in water retention, as a result of organic matter application, has been
stressed by Ohu et al. (1985).
Little attention has been directed to the study of effect of organic matter on
soil shear strength. Soil shear strength increases with bulk density and inter-
particle bonding, while it decreases with moisture content (Stibbe and Terps-
tra, 1982 ). The effect of organic matter is to reduce bulk density and increase
moisture retention, both of which act to reduce soil shear strength. Although
organic matter may increase the inter-particle bonding within aggregates,
Greenland {1965) reported that the extent to which it can affect the bonding
between aggregates may not be enough to increase soil shear strength. It is
therefore unclear how these effects interact to determine soil strength. While
Davies (1985) reported increases in soil shear strength by organic matter con-
tributed by grass, Ohu et al. (1985) found that organic matter from peat re-
duced soil strength. The relationship between soil shear strength and organic
content may then depend on the source of the organic matter.
This paper examines the effect of organic matter originating from grass and
peat on soil bulk density, moisture retention and aggregate stability in order
to investigate how organic matter affects the soil shear strength.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil

The study soils were collected from the Rothamsted Experimental Station
site at Woburn, Bedfordshire, U.K. They are divided into two-five soils with
grass and seven others with peat treatment. The soils with grass treatment
were collected at various locations in the Station. The soils are coded G1-G5
in increasing order of organic contents (Table 1 ). The differences in organic
content depend on the number of years the soils have been under grass treat-
ment (Table 2). Apart from G5, which is of sandy clay loam texture, the rest
are sandy loams.
The soils with peat treatment were obtained by adding moss peat with two
different fibrosities to a control soil each at 4, 11 and 17% rates (air-dry weights)
to give the organic contents shown in Table 1. The control soil with loamy sand
texture (Table 2) was collected from the farmyard manure plot (Block 1 ) of
the Organic Manuring Experiment. The two peat types coded F1 and F2 have
fibrosities of 92 and 74%, respectively. Peat fibrosity is expressed as the dry
fibre content less than 0.1 mm (Farnham and Finney, 1965). The control soil
in air-dry condition was thoroughly wetted, mixed with peat in the required
ORGANIC-MATTER EFFECTS ON SOIL STRENGTH 291

TABLE1

Measured properties of the study soils

Soil codes Organic-matter Aggregate stability Moisture Bulk S o i l shear

content ( % ) retention density strength
Water-stable Individual a t 10 c m (g c m - 3 ) a t 10 c m
aggregates aggregate suction suction
>0.5 mm energy (%) (kN m -2)
(%) (mJ)

Soils with grass treatment

G1 1.23 g 2.15 c 4.00 c 31.95 f 1.50 f 19.17 b
G2 1,37 g 2.74 c 5.40 ~ 32.47 f 1.49 f 22.85 a
G3 2,09 ~ 7.51 b 14.00 n 37.38 ~ 1.38 + 23.31 a
G4 5,04 b 9.60 b 16.00 b 49.08 b 1.19 b 23.61 ~
G5 5.64 a 21.82 ~ 33.00 a 54.0C 1.12 a 24.4C

Soils with peat treatment

Control 1.72 f 2.50 ~ 3.93 35.27 e 1.46 f 15.47 a
F1 (A) 3.02 d 1.34 b 3.93 37.15 e 1.39 e 1 4 . 1 4 ab
F2(A) 3.18 d 1.35 b 3.93 36.81 e 1.40 e 12.64 ¢
F1 (B) 4.10 ¢ 1 . 2 4 bc 3.70 41.08 d 1.32 Cd 1 2 . 7 2 b¢
F2(B) 4.89 b 1.11 b¢ 3.70 41.11 d 1 . 3 6 d~ 12.00 ¢
F1 (C) 5.55 a 0 . 9 6 bc 3.45 43.89 ¢ 1.30 ~ 11.94 ¢
F2 (C) 5.62 a 0.88 c 3.45 45.5V 1.28 ~ 11.90 c

LSD

All s o i l s 0.29 - - 2.50 0.05 -

S o i l s 4- g r a s s 2.61 2.60 - 1.70
Soils + peat - 0.43 - - - 1.40

The differences between values in a c o l u m n f o l l o w e d b y d i f f e r e n t s u p e r s c r i p t s a r e s i g n i f i c a n t at,

the 5 % level.
t S o i l s with codes F 1 a n d F 2 w e r e a p p l i e d p e a t a t 4 ( A ) , 11 ( B ) a n d 17 % ( C ) , o n a n air-dry basis,

amounts and put on sand tables at 50 cm suction for 1 month to simulate field
conditions. Details of the study soils have been described by Ekwue (1987).

Experimentalprocedure

Disturbed natural test samples were collected from the top 15 cm of soil. All
the soils were air-dried in the laboratory. Organic-matter content was deter-
mined with the Walkley-Black method. Mechanical analysis was carried out
with the pipette method. Aggregate stability was assessed using the propor-
tions of water stable aggregates (WSA) and energy of individual aggregates.
The proportions of WSA were determined with the wet sieving method follow-
ing the procedure of Low (1954) with sand correction. The energy of individual
292 E.I.EKWUE

TABLE 2

Treatments and particle size distribution of the natural study soils

Soil Treatments 1 Sand Silt Clay

codes (2-0.06 mm ) (0.06-0.002 mm ) ( < 0.002 mm)
G1 Intensive cereal up to 1982. Has 70.8± 1.22 19.1 ± 0.4 10.1 ± 0.5
been under grass for at least 2
years
G2 Same as G1 above 65.8±0.5 22.6±0.3 11.6±0.3
G3 Continuous arable up to 1971. 72.3±0.9 16.5±0.2 11.2±0.5
Has been under grass since
G4 Permanent grass up to 1981. 68.5±0.9 17.3±0.2 14.2±0.6
Has been under arable since
G5 Permanent grass 62.3±1.0 12.8±0.4 24.9±0.9
Control FYM applied from 1965 to 1971 80.9±1.7 10.3±0.6 8.3±0.3
and from 1981 till sampling
date
1Soil samples were collected in September 1986.
2Values are means of three replicates ± standard deviation.

aggregates was d e t e r m i n e d with a drop t e s t a p p a r a t u s similar to t h e one used

b y A1-Durrah a n d B r a d f o r d (1981). T h e t o t a l e n e r g y o f t h e n u m b e r o f w a t e r
drops, 3 m m in d i a m e t e r , r e q u i r e d to fall 1 m d i s t a n c e to d e s t r o y 4 - 5 m m sized
soil aggregates p r e - w e t t e d to 10 c m suction was u s e d as a n index of aggregate
stability. T h e aggregates were t e r m e d d e s t r o y e d w h e n t h e y were b r o k e n d o w n
sufficiently to pass a 3.5 m m c e n t r a l hole in t h e aggregate holder. T h i r t y rep-
licates were used for each soil.
Soil s h e a r s t r e n g t h was m e a s u r e d on six replicate samples p u t o n splash
cups, 73 m m d i a m e t e r , 50 m m deep using a drop cone p e n e t r o m e t e r . T h e sam-
ples sieved t h r o u g h 2 m m openings were p a c k e d into t h e cups, s a t u r a t e d a n d
left o v e r n i g h t on s a n d tables at 10 c m suction. F o u r d e p t h p e n e t r a t i o n readings
were t a k e n o n each sample. T h e s h e a r s t r e n g t h s were e s t i m a t e d using t h e
H a n s b o f o r m u l a ( Towner, 1973 ) assuming the K values of 1.6 × 104 a n d 1.2 × 104
which T o w n e r (1973) derived for s a n d y loam a n d l o a m y s a n d soils, respec-
tively. B u l k d e n s i t y a n d m o i s t u r e r e t e n t i o n were d e t e r m i n e d o n t h e same sam-
ples used for s h e a r s t r e n g t h m e a s u r e m e n t s with the formula developed b y B r a d y
(1984).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

T h e results of t h e m e a s u r e m e n t s on t h e p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e s t u d y soils are

given in T a b l e 1. T h e two sets o f soils are each a r r a n g e d in o r d e r of increasing
ORGANIC-MATTER EFFECTS ONSOILSTRENGTH 293

TABLE3

Relationships between soil properties (Y) and organic-matter content (X)

Physical parameters Degree of Correlation Regression equations

correlated freedom coefficients 1

Water-stable aggregates > 0.5 m m

Soils with grass 14 0.873 Y = 3 . 3 2 X - 1.44
Soils with peat 20 - 0.878 Y = 3.03 exp ( - 0.22X)

Aggregate energy
Soils with grass 150 0.877 Y = 4 . 8 3 X - 0.39

Bulk density
Soils with grass 29 -0.977 Y = 1.61 - 0 . 0 9 X
Soils with peat 41 -0.849 Y = 1.52 - 0 . 0 4 X
All study soils 71 -0.821 Y = 1 . 5 7 - 0.06X

Moisture retention
Soils with grass 29 0.986 Y = 27.75 + 5.02X
Soils with peat 41 0.946 Y = 31.24 + 2.70X
All study soils 71 0.880 Y = 29.33 + 3.65X

Soil shear strength

Soils with grass 29 0.520 Y = 20.61 + 0.67X
Soils with peat 41 - 0.795 Y = 16.39 - 0.85X

1All correlation coefficients are significant at the 1% level.

organic-matter content. Table 3 shows the relationships between the measured

properties and organic content.

Aggregate stability and organic content

The differences in the values of organic contents were significant at the 5%

level. The higher organic contents in F2 than F1 peat, for a given application
rate, reflects the slightly higher percentage peat (oven-dry basis) in the F2
peat.
For soils with grass treatment, WSA and individual aggregate energy gen-
erally increased with increasing organic content. The differences in these val-
ues were significant at the 5% level. The values from G3 and G4 were not
significantly different, despite the wide differences in the organic contents.
This is because unlike G3 soil which was under grass, G4 soil had been culti-
vated to wheat since 1981. Soils under cultivation lose their organic content
less rapidly than their aggregate stability (Thompson and Troeh, 1978). This
is an explanation of the reduced correlation coefficients between the aggregate
stability indices and organic content (Table 3), but these were significant at
294 E.I.EKWUE

the 1% level. The increase in aggregate stability with organic content agrees
with previous studies (Williams and Cooke, 1961; Greenland, 1977) which
showed the ability of organic matter contributed by grass to improve the sta-
bility of soil aggregates to physical disruption in water.
In line with studies by Greenland et al. (1975), the two forms of peat signif-
icantly reduced the WSA of the control soil. In general, WSA reduced with
organic content. The reduction was best described by an exponential relation-
ship (Table 3). Peat reduced aggregate stability because it has low degradabil-
ity (Mattingly, 1974) and is chemically inert (Dijk, 1982). Individual aggre-
gate energy also reduced with peat application, but not significantly. Results
of each peat type were the same for a given application rate. This therefore
differs from the WSA test where the reduction was significant. A close exam-
ination of the soils during the drop test showed that peat and the mineral soil
aggregates used for the test lay side by side, as peat does not become incorpo-
rated within the soil fabric like other organic materials (Johnston and Brookes,
1979). Only soil aggregates were used in the drop test. The almost identical
aggregate energy values in all the soils suggest that peat does not have a sig-
nificant effect on the strength of individual aggregates. For the WSA test, the
whole soil containing both mineral and peat materials was used. The propor-
tions of mineral soil aggregates reduced with increasing peat. Since the strength
of individual aggregates was the same, the reduction in WSA values with peat
was a result of increasing peat content which was not regarded as part of the
reported WSA.
Apart from the clarification of the effect of peat on aggregate stability by
both methods, there seems little difference in them as earlier suggested by
other workers, such as Farres and Cousen (1985). For the soils with grass
treatment, the values determined by the two methods were highly related with
a correlation coefficient of 0.997.

Bulk density, moisture retention and organic content

The values of bulk density reduced while moisture retention increased with
increasing organic content (Table 1). The differences in the values of these
parameters were significant at 5 %. There were no significant differences in the
values of the two forms of peat for a given application rate. The lower bulk
densities in the G4 and G5 soils compared with the F1 (C) and F2 (C) soils may
partly reflect the differences in soil texture. The two sets of soils had similar
organic contents but the former soils had higher clay contents than the latter
soils. Since organic matter reduces bulk density by soil dilution and improve-
ment in aggregate stability (MacRae and Mehuys, 1985), it is possible that the
improvement in aggregate stability with grass, unlike peat (which has only
diluting effects), may have contributed to the differences in the values. These
soils with grass also contributed higher moisture retentions, probably as a re-
sult of the lower bulk densities, which meant that they had higher porosities.
ORGANIC-MATTER EFFECTS ON SOIL STRENGTH 295

The relationships between bulk density, moisture retention and organic con-
tent were significant at 1% levels (Table 3).

Soil shear strength and organic content

For the soils with grass treatment, the values of soil shear strength increased
with organic content. However, the values for G2-G5 soils were not signifi-
cantly different at the 5% level. Surface shear strength increases with bulk
density (Ohu et al., 1985) and inter-particle (and aggregate) bonding (Cruse
and Larson, 1977). It reduces with soil moisture content (Panwar and Sie-
mens, 1972). It has been shown that organic matter reduced bulk density and
increased the moisture retention of all the study soils. These effects are ex-
pected to reduce the soil shear strength. However, for soils with grass treat-
ment, stability of aggregates increased with organic contents. It was observed
that during the shear strength test, the soils with lower organic contents suf-
fered more slaking and dispersion on wetting which reduced their resistance
to penetration by drop cone, which was used to assess shear strength. The soils
therefore had lower strength values despite having higher bulk densities and
lower moisture-retention values which ought to have helped increase their
strengths. The effect of organic matter on bulk density and moisture retention
may have acted to reduce the increase in shear strength it could have imparted
to the soil. This is especially true since strength values did not increase as much
as those for aggregate stability with increasing organic content. The relation-
ship between soil shear strength and organic content was significant at the 1%
level (Table 3).
In this study, all the soils were packed in the same way and the differences
in bulk density values obtained for them depended on their organic contents.
Davies (1985) observed an increase in shear strength with organic matter orig-
inating from grass, as was also observed in this study. She used the same bulk
density of 1.25 g cm -3 for all the study soils. Spivey et al. (1986) obtained a
good correlation coefficient (r = 0.88 ) between shear strength and organic con-
tent. They pressed their soils to the same bulk density of 1.65 g cm -1, which
made them doubt their results, because they thought that the soils with higher
organic contents could have had higher strengths because they suffered more
compaction. They did not mention the effect of organic matter in stabilising
soil aggregates and reducing slaking and slumping, which was observed in the
present study. Gantzer et al. (1987) noted increases in shear strength with the
incorporation of corn and soyabean residues to the soil. They also noted in-
creases in aggregate stability.
Soil shear strength of the control soil reduced with peat content (Table 1 ).
The reductions were all significant except for F1 (A) soil. It has been shown
that organic matter from peat increased moisture retention and decreased bulk
density as well as aggregate stability of the soil. During the tests, it only made
the soil aggregates fall apart and reduced the overall soil resistance to penetra-
296 EJ. EKWUE

tion by the drop cone equipment. The relationship between soil shear strength
and organic content for the soils with peat treatment gave a significant nega-
tive linear correlation coefficient (Table 3 ).
In recent literature, only Ohu et al. (1985) studied the effect of incorporating
peat on soil shear strength. They tested their soils at different moisture con-
tents and noted the same decreases in strength with increasing peat applica-
tion rates as observed here. They attributed this to the reduction of soil bulk
density by peat.

CONCLUSION

The data presented has clarified the conflicts in literature on the effect of
organic matter on soil shear strength. Soil shear strength increases or de-
creases with increasing organic-matter content depending on whether the form
of organic material involved increases aggregate stability.
Organic matter from grass increases shear strength since it improves the soil
aggregate stability, but the increases are limited, since it also reduces soil bulk
density and improves moisture retention, both of which act to reduce soil shear
strength. Organic matter from peat reduces soil shear strength since it reduces
soil stability. It only adds its bulk to the soil, making the aggregates fall apart,
reducing the soil shear strength.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to Professor R.P.C. Morgan for his invaluable sug-
gestions and to Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herfordshire
for access to their field plots.

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