And Soil Matric Potential- Based Irrigation Trigger Values
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EC3045 December 2019 Perspectives and Considerations for Soil Moisture Sensing Technologies and Soil Water Content- and Soil Matric Potential- Based Irrigation Trigger Values Suat Irmak, Professor, Soil and Water Resources and Irrigation Engineering Soil- water status (soil moisture) plays a critical role in soil oxygen deficiency can cause stomata closure as well even determining yield potential of crops. Soil- water in the plant when plants do not experience water deficit stress. As a re- root- zone must be maintained in a balance so that plants sult, stomata closure reduces the transpiration rate and yield, can optimize their transpiration (biomass/yield production because transpiration and yield are strongly and linearly process) as well as water, nutrient, and micronutrient uptake. correlated (Irmak, 2016). Accurate determination of soil- water status (either matric Given its vital importance on numerous processes, plant potential or water content) is not only very important for physiological functions, and soil- water- atmosphere relation- irrigation and water resources management, it is also a fun- ships, soil moisture determinations and irrigation manage- damental element of soil- water movement, chemical (fate) ment decisions must be made based on technology rather transport, crop water stress, evapotranspiration, hydrologic than non- technological approaches (i.e., hand- feel method, and crop modeling, climate change, and other important calendar day approach, based on neighbors’ schedule, visual disciplines. Irrigation management requires the knowledge observations of soil and/or crop status) to optimize crop of “when” and “how much” water to apply to optimize crop production efficiency. Furthermore, unlike some of the production and increase and maintain a high level of water weather variables, soil moisture is not a transferrable vari- use efficiency. Insufficient irrigation applications can impose able between the locations or fields and it is a field- specific water stress on crops, which and can also cause irreversible variable and hence must be measured for each field. Side by damage to plants and this may lead to reductions in crop side fields and even different locations within a field can have yield and yield quality. Overirrigation cause anaerobic soil substantially different soil- water status due to various factors conditions, promote undesirable chemical and biological and the interactions of these factors. Assuming that the same reactions in the soil, which can cause yield reductions and be well- calibrated technology is used to monitor soil moisture, wasteful of water and energy resources. For example, from a the factors that contribute to differences in soil- water status multi- year research at the UNL South Central Agricultural between the two side by side fields include, but not limited to, Laboratory near Clay Center, Irmak (2014) reported that differences in the following variables between the fields: even only 25% more water than needed in the maize root- zone reduced grain yields as much as 15 bu/ac, which is a • Soil physical and textural properties substantial portion of attainable maize yield in south central • Organic matter content Nebraska. Reduced oxygen concentrations in soil due to wet soil or flooding conditions can cause stomatal closure • Field slope of plants, which causes plant stress, because plants cannot • Crop type transpire water vapor at an optimal/potential rate although water is available. Some researchers have reported that the • Planting date © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. 1 • Crop emergence water molecules from soil particles. As the soil gets drier, the plants must exert increasingly more energy to extract water • Plant growth and development rates and maturity date molecules because water molecules are extracted from the • Irrigation management (method, timing, amount) large soil pores first and water is held more tightly in the smaller pores and the bond between water molecules and soil • Fertilizer management (method, timing, amount) pores becomes even stronger as soil gets drier. Plants extract • Variability in precipitation (timing, amount) most readily available water molecules first and gradually extract more strongly held water molecules and that is the • Soil and crop management practices between the fields reason for SMP gradually increasing as soil gets drier (the (especially tillage) maximum value of SMP is zero, which indicates very wet • Crop water use (evapotranspiration) rates soil conditions). As soil gets drier, SMP increases negatively (more negative tension), but in practical applications, the • Residue cover type, percentage, and amount negative sign in SMP is usually ignored. SMP is usually ex- • Pesticides application method, amount, and timing pressed in units of energy such as erg/gr (1 bar = 1 x 106 erg/ gr), or in joule/kg (1 bar = 100 joule/kg). Commonly used • Field wetting history subunits are megapascal (MPa), kilopascal (kPa), centibars • Crop exposure to water, heat, and wind stress (timing, (cb) or millibars (mb) (1 bar = 0.1 MPa = 100 kPa = 100 cb duration, and magnitude) = 1000 mb). SMP can also be presented in units of pressure such as atmosphere (1 bar = 1 atm = 14.7 psi), or in units • Crop exposure to fertilizer stress (timing duration, and of water head of an equivalent water column in centimeters magnitude) (1 bar = 1022 cm H2O at sea level) or equivalent mercury • Disease pressure (Hg) column [1 bar = 76 cm (29.92 inch) Hg at sea level]. Additional information about SMP is provided in Irmak and • Other variables/factors Haman (2001) and Irmak et al. (2016). All these differences will result in substantial differences Numerous methods have been used to determine soil- in soil moisture and different irrigation management require- water status directly or indirectly. However, none of these ments between the fields. The potential of using soil mois- methods is perfect. Decision- making on “which technique ture data/information from another field/location to make should be used” to monitor soil moisture highly depends on effective irrigation management decisions is almost impos- the purpose of the application, soil conditions, crop type, sible. Thus, accurate soil moisture measurement for a given management practices, desired accuracy, durability, complex- production field is necessary for various applications and is ity, financial conditions, and other factors. While in practice much more important than it is usually thought or perceived. SWC- based technologies are more widely used, scientifically SMP is a more powerful and robust method to determine soil- water deficit or soil- water availability for plant uptake. Soil Water Content vs. Soil Matric Potential to However, the application of SMP in practice is a little more Express Soil- Water Status complicated (i.e., development of soil- water release curves). Soil- water status in the soil profile can be expressed in Thus, SWC- based applications are used probably more widely two very different ways: than SMP- based technologies. However, if the soil- water release curves are developed and SMP values are converted 1. Soil water content (θ) and to SWC or if irrigation management is practiced directly 2. Matric potential (Ψ). based on certain threshold or SMP trigger points, this would be a more robust and representative irrigation management Soil water content (SWC) indicates the quantity of water strategy as it has been researched, taught, demonstrated, and in the soil, but does not directly indicate the availability of practiced in the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management this water to plants. Soil matric potential (SMP) represents Network (NAWMN; https:// water .unl .edu /category /nawmn) the relative availability of the amount of water held in the soil functions. In sensitive research and many other scientific ap- profile for plant uptake/use and the quantity of soil- water plications, the use of SMP rather than SWC is preferred. Two from SMP is determined through soil- water characteristics of the most fundamental parameters in the entire soil water curves developed for specific soil types. In more practical status, agriculture, hydrology, crop production and crop terms, SMP is a direct indication of how much energy must physiology, and other related disciplines are the field capacity be exerted (application of pressure) by plants to extract the and permanent wilting point and these two fundamental soil 2 © The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. properties that drive almost all soil- water- atmosphere rela- in ranking. Before establishment of NAWMN, the presence tionships were developed based on SMP rather than SWC. of soil moisture sensor companies in Nebraska was extremely In practice, quantification of SMP is a more difficult limited or did not exist. Due to extensive demonstrations, ed- process than quantifying SWC. Also, measurement of soil- ucational programs, and documented large scale impacts of water retention curve for individual soil types to quantify soil NAWMN, in the last several years, a number of soil moisture water availability from SMP measurements is a sensitive and sensor companies started to be present/visible and market difficult task. Any instrument that is able to detect the change various soil moisture sensors in Nebraska, which is a good in some of the soil properties as a function of SWC can be and positive step towards further promoting the technology used to