Perspectives and Considerations for Soil Moisture Sensing Technologies and Soil Water Content-and Soil Matric Potential-Based Irrigation Trigger Values

Soil-water status (soil moisture) plays a critical role in determining yield potential of crops. Soil-water in the plant root-zone must be maintained in a balance so that plants can optimize their transpiration (biomass/yield production process) as well as water, nutrient, and micronutrient uptake. Accurate determination of soil-water status (either matric potential or water content) is not only very important for irrigation and water resources management, it is also a fundamental element of soil-water movement, chemical (fate) transport, crop water stress, evapotranspiration, hydrologic and crop modeling, climate change, and other important disciplines. Irrigation management requires the knowledge of “when” and “how much” water to apply to optimize crop production and increase and maintain a high level of water use efficiency. Insufficient irrigation applications can impose water stress on crops, which and can also cause irreversible damage to plants and this may lead to reductions in crop yield and yield quality. Overirrigation cause anaerobic soil conditions, promote undesirable chemical and biological reactions in the soil, which can cause yield reductions and be wasteful of water and energy resources.

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