Soil Water Estimations

Introduction
Objective:
This lesson is to help you to understand how water is held in the soil in different forms
and to identify the forms of soil water. You will also learn how to use mathematical
calculations to make practical use of the different forms of soil water.

Soil Water

The presence of adequate water in the soil is vital to plant growth, not only because
plants need water for their physiological processes but also because water contains
nutrients in solution.

Plants use a tremendous amount of water. The combined evaporation and transpiration
may be as high as 1 cm per day or about 100,000 kg per ha per day. It is the soil that
holds this water and supplies it to the plants.

The soil acts as a large reservoir of water. Solid particles of varying sizes and shapes
make up the skeleton of the soil. Between the soil particles are interconnected pore
spaces that vary continuously in size and shape.

In a completely dry soil, all of the pore space would be filled with air; and in a
completely saturated oil, water (soil solution) would occupy all of the pore space. Hence,
the ability of soil to store water is determined by the percentage of the total soil volume
that is occupied by soil solids and pore space. These concepts can be expressed
quantitatively by soil porosity and soil water content.

Soil water content

Water is held in the soil because of the attraction between soil solids and water. This
force can be measured by moisture tension.

A knowledge of the amount of water held by the soil at the various tensions is required if
we are to calculate the amount of water that is available to plants, the water that can be
accommodated before percolation starts, the amount of water that needs to be used for
irrigation, etc.

For reasons of practical use and for the determination and tabulation of soil moisture
data, it is necessary to select definite tension levels as reference points. These are
expressed as soil moisture constants.

Let us understand, briefly, these soil moisture constants.

Forms of soil water

Soil moisture constants

Saturation:

A soil where pores are completely filled with water.

Field capacity:

The moisture content of the soil when downward movement of water has virtually
ceased. The soil moisture tension will be around 0.33 atmospheres.

Wilting point:

The moisture content of the soil when the plants loose their ability to recover from water
deficits. The soil moisture tension will be around 15 atmospheres.

Hygroscopic coefficient:

The hygroscopic coefficient is the percentage of water remaining in an air-dry soil.

Forms of soil water

The water content at field capacity, wilting point, and the hygroscopic coefficient are all
based on the OVEN-DRY reference mass. The percentage of water held under each of
these conditions can therefore be used to define the following and other forms of soil
water.

Hygroscopic water (%) = Hygroscopic coefficient

Capillary water (%) = Field capacity - Hygroscopic coefficient
Available water (%) = Field capacity - Wilting point
Unavailable water (%) = Wilting point
Gravitational Water (%) = Water content - Field capacity
Each of these forms of water can be calculated from the appropriate soil mass

Measurement and calculation of soil water by mass

Measuring soil water

It is important to measure either the soil moisture or the amount of water present in a soil.
Several different approaches are available for making these measurements.

Tensiometers, gypsum blocks, and Bouyoucos moisture meters are used in the field to
measure the soil moisture tension.
More often these moisture meters are used to schedule irrigations to crops. In field
research, soil moisture is estimated by measuring the percentage of water present in the
soil. The amount of water present in the soil is determined gravimetrically by weighing a
soil sample before and after oven drying.

Percent water calculations

Amounts of soil water are most commonly expressed as mass percentages. Please
remember that the reference mass for calculating percent water is always based on the
OVEN-DRY MASS of the soil.

Let us solve an example.

Mass of soil before drying = 75 g

Mass of soil after drying = 60 g
Then,
Mass of water present = 75 - 60 = 15 g
Therefore:

15 g
Water present = ---------------- x 100 = 25%
60 g

Let us calculate the percentage of water at soil moisture constants.

A soil having the following mass per unit volume will serve as an example to calculate
the soil moisture constants.

Mass at field capacity = 81 g Find:

Mass at wilting point = 74 g % Water at field capacity
Air-dry mass = 64 g % Water at Wilting point
Oven-dry mass = 55 g % Available water

81 - 58
Water at field capacity = -------------- x 100 = 40%
58

71 - 58
Water at wilting point = --------------------- x 100 = 22%
58

Available water = Field capacity - Wilting point

= 40 - 22 = 18 %
A soil having the following mass per unit volume will serve as an example to calculate
the soil moisture constants.

Mass at field capacity = 81 g Find:

Mass at wilting point = 74 g % Water at field capacity
Air-dry mass = 64 g % Water at Wilting point
Oven-dry mass = 55 g % Available water

Unavailable water = Wilting point

= 35 %

Hygroscopic water = water in air dry soil

64 - 55
= ---------------------------------------------- x 100 = 16
55

Capillary water = Field capacity - Hygroscopic water

= 47 % - 16 % = 31 %

Measurement and calculation of soil water by volume

Vt = Total volume of soil Mt = Total mass of soil

Va = Volume of soil air Ma = Mass of soil air
Vw = Volume of soil water Mw = Mass of soil water
Vs = Volume of soil solids Ms = Mass of soil solids
Earlier you have seen that:

Water by mass = grams of water (Mw)/ Mass of solids (Ms)

Now you will learn that:

Water by volume = Vol. of water (Vw)/ Vol. of solids (Vs)

Vol. of water = grams of water / density of water

Vol. of soil = bulk vol. of the soil

Hence:

Vol. of water = (grams of water/density of water)/ bulk vol. of the soil

Water by volume = Vol. of water x 100 %

Please remember that the density of water is equal to 1 g per cc

A cube of soil measures 10 x 10 x 10 cm and has a total wet mass of 1740 g of which 270
g is water. Find the percentage of water content in the soil by mass and by volume.

1. Water content by mass = water (g) / mass of dry soil (g)

= 270 / (1740 - 270) = .18

Water content by mass = .18 x 100 = 18 %

2. Water content by vol. = vol. of water / bulk vol. of soil

=( 270 / 1 g per cc) / (10x10x10) = .27 cc

Water content by vol. = .27 x 100 = 27 %