Soil-Water Potential and Soil-Water Content Concepts and Measurement Methods

Soil-water status is a critical and rapidly changing variable that determines and impacts numerous important factors in production fields such as crop emergence and growth, water management, water and crop yield productivity relationships, and within-field hydrologic balances. Thus, its accurate determination dictates and impacts the success of water management and related agricultural operations. This, in turn, affects the attainment of potential yield, as well as the reduction of water losses and chemical leaching. Maintaining optimum soil moisture in the crop root zone also strongly influences optimum nitrogen (N) uptake by plants, which helps to reduce N leaching. Numerous soil moisture measurement technologies are available. None of the methods, however, are perfectly suited to all operational conditions as each has drawbacks and advantages, depending on the application conditions.

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