Impact of intermittent infiltration on solute leaching efficiency in soil

In view of insufficient reveal on flow and solute transport regimes under intermittent infiltration conditions, movement laws of water and solute were conducted under same total infiltration volume but different frequencies. Experimental results showed that without evaporation, intermittent infiltration significantly raised the average infiltration rate as well as drainage rate, but had no effect on the total drainage volume. With limited irrigation frequencies, it raised the solute leaching rate without influencing the final leaching efficiency. If the infiltration frequency was too high, the water flow velocity would be too fast to carried solute downwards, resulting in a decrease of the leaching efficiency. The results of this study provide a reference for intermittent irrigation schedule design.