Soil water

Functions of water
         

Plant cells have 50 - 90% water Keeps turgor Seed germination Transpiration Photosynthesis Moves products Nutrients available Lowers soil strength Chemical reactions Microbial activity

Forces on Soil Water



Soil-water potential

Forces on Soil Water



Capillarity

Types of soil water 1- Gravitational 2- Capillary 3- Hygroscopic

Forces on Soil Water

Gravitational

Gravitational also called free water. This is the water that drains out of the soil after it has been wetted.

This water moves downward through the soil because of the pull of gravity. This water also feeds wells and springs.

Capillary


Capillary water that moves into and is held in the soil by capillary forces .


Plant roots can absorb or take up this moisture.

The size of the soil pore will influence the amount of water held by capillary forces.

Provides most of the moisture for plant growth.

Hygroscopic
Hygroscopic - very thin water films around the soil particles. These films are held by extremely strong forces that cause the water molecules to be arranged in a semisolid form. This water is unavailable to plants.

Types of Soil Water

How is Soil Water Classified?

1) Hygroscopic Water is held so strongly by the soil particles (adhesion), that it is not available to the plants.(10.000 to 31 atm.) 2) Capillary Water (31 to 0.33 atm) is held by cohesive forces greater than gravity and is some of it is available to plants (0.33 to 15 atm.) and some of it is not available ( 15 to 31 atm.). 3) Gravitational Water ( 0.33 to Zero atm. ) is that water which cannot be held against gravity.

friable Mud Field Capacity drips! Wilting Point Dry Soil heat!

Gravitational Water

Capillary Water

Hygroscopic Water

Runoff

Erosion

Held between soil particles Available to plant roots!

Unavailable

Levels of Water in Soil

Saturation Point the moisture point at which all of the pore spaces are filled with water.

Levels of Water in Soil

Field Capacity the maximum amount of water left in the soil after losses of water to the forces of gravity have ceased and before surface evaporation begins. Water forced by 0.1 to 0.55 with average 0.33 atm. Or bar occurs when the soil contains the maximum amount of capillary water.

Field capacity : the amount of water that remains in the soil after gravitational drainage

F.C depends on soil type ;sands have a lower field capacity than clays

Levels of Water in Soil

Permanent Wilting Point the point at which the plant can no longer obtain sufficient water from the soil to meet its transpiration needs. At this point the plant enters permanent wilt and dies. The water forced by 15 atm.

Wilting point: the amount of water

that is so tightly held in soil that plant

can not utilize it.

Levels of Water in Soil

Available Soil Water that amount present in a soil which can be moved by plants. It is designated as the difference between the field capacity and the wilting point.

     

Plant available water = fc- wp Soil moisture deficit SMD = TAW = ( fc- wp)* Z r (root depth zone) Readily available water (RAW) RAW = P( vfc- vwp)* Z r Where P is the allowed depletion factor which depend on type of plants

Water Holding Capacities of Soils

The amount of water a soil can retain is influenced by:

  

soil texture soil structure organic matter.

Soil Texture
The smaller soil particles, the greater the soils water holding capacity. Clay has more water holding capacity than sand. Small soil particles (clay) have more small pores or capillary spaces, so they have a higher water holding capacity. Large soil particles (sand) have fewer capillary spaces, therefore less ability to hold water.

Some examples of field capacity and wilting points for different soil textures
Textural class Wilting point (m3/m3) Clay Silt Loam Sand 0.25 0.15 0.10 0.05 Field capacity (m3/m3) 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.10

Soil Structure


A soil structure has a direct correlation to the amount of water it can retain. Soils which have a good structure such as granular structure have a high water holding capacity.

Organic Matter
Organic matter aids in cementing particles of clay, silt, and sand together into aggregates which increases the water holding capacity.

Developing a Plan for Controlling Soil Water - Cover Crop close growing crop planted to protect the soil and prevent erosion Crop Rotation planting of different crops in a given field every year or every several years Mulch material placed on soil to break the fall of rain drops (preventing erosion), prevent weeds from growing, or reduce evaporation from the soil surface. Strip Cropping alternating strips of row crops with strips of close growing crops

Water Retention and Movement Soil Texture and water movement

Soil structure and water movement

Practical Measuring Devices



Gravimetric method Potentiometers (tensiometers) Resistance Blocks (gypsum blocks)

 

Crop Water Requirements Crop water use, consumptive use and evapo-transpiration (ET) are the terms that are used to describe the water consumed by a crop. Water requirement depend mainly on the nature and stage of growth of the crop and environmental conditions. Different crops have different water-use requirements under the same weather conditions.

Evapotranspiration ( ET ) the combination of water that is lost from the soil through evaporation and through transpiration from plants as a part of their metabolic processes

Factors affecting evapotranspiration



Weather parameters Crop factors Management and environmental conditions

Environmental Factors Affecting Water Needs

More It is in a clay soil It is in a sandy soil The temperature is hot The wind is blowing The humidity is high The sun is bright (no clouds) Less

v v v v v v

Weather parameters


The principal weather parameters affecting evapotranspiration are radiation, air temperature, humidity and wind speed. Several procedures have been developed to assess the evaporation rate from these parameters. The evaporation power of the atmosphere is expressed by the reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo).

The reference crop evapotranspiration ETo

represents the evapotranspiration from a

standardized vegetated surface.

Crop factors


The crop type, variety and development stage should be considered when assessing the evapotranspiration from crops grown in large, well-managed fields.

Crop evapotranspiration under standard conditions (ETc)

refers to the evaporating demand from crops that are grown in large fields under optimum soil water, excellent management and environmental conditions, and achieve full production under the given climatic conditions.

Management and environmental conditions

Factors such as soil salinity, poor land fertility, limited application of fertilizers, the presence of hard or impenetrable soil horizons, the absence of control of diseases and pests and poor soil management may limit the crop development and reduce the evapotranspiration.

Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo)

The evapotranspiration rate from a reference surface, not short of water, is called the reference crop evapotranspiration or reference evapotranspiration and is denoted as ETo. The reference surface is a hypothetical grass reference crop with specific characteristics.

The only factors affecting ETo are climatic parameters. Consequently, ETo is a climatic parameter and can be computed from weather data. ETo expresses the evaporating power of the atmosphere at a specific location and time of the year and does not consider the crop characteristics and soil factors. The FAO PenmanMonteith method is recommended as the sole method for determining ETo.

TABLE 2. Average ETo for different agroclimatic regions in mm/day Mean daily temperature C0 Cool Moderate Warm ~10C 20C 30C >

Regions

Tropics and subtropics - humid and sub-humid -arid and semi-arid Temperate region - humid and sub-humid -arid and semi-arid 2-1 3-1 4-2 7-4 7-4 9-6 3-2 4-2 5-3 6-4 7-5 8-6

Calculation of ETo
     

Penman-Monteith equation Blaney- Criddle equation Turc Modified penman Radiation method Pan evaporation

1- Penman-Monteith equation
0.408 ( ( Rn  G )  K ETo !

900 U (e s  ea ) T  273 2 (  K (1 0.34 u ) 2

ETo reference evapotranspiration [mm day-1], Rn net radiation at the crop surface [MJ m-2 day-1], G soil heat flux density [MJ m-2 day-1], T mean daily air temperature at 2 m height [C], u2 wind speed at 2 m height [m s-1], es saturation vapour pressure (KPa], ea actual vapour pressure [KPa], es-ea saturation vapour pressure deficit [KPa], ( Slope vapour pressure curve (KPa C-1], g Psychrometric constant [KPa C-1].

2- Blaney-Criddle equation: ETo = C {P (0.46 t + 8.13)} Where: ETo = reference evapotranspiration in mm for the period considered. t = mean daily temperature in c over the period considered. P = mean daily percentage of total annual daytime hours

C = adjustment factors which depends on minimum relative humidity, sunshine hours and daytime wind estimates, according to Doorenbos and Pruitt (1984).

Crop water requirements

where ETc = Kc x ETo ETc crop evapotranspiration [mm d-1], Kc crop coefficient [dimensionless], ETo reference crop evapotranspiration [mm d-1].

maximum rate when soil water is at field capacity. When soil moisture decreases, crops have to exert energy to extract water from soil. Usually, the transpiration rate does not decrease significantly until the soil moisture falls below 50% of field capacity. The evapo-transpiration (Etc in mm) of a crop under irrigation is obtained by the following equation:

The growing period can be divided into four distinct growth stages: Initial stage crop development stage, mid-season stage late season stage.

 

Following four stages of crop growth: i. Initial stage: Germination period and early growth of crop when the soil cover by the crop is less than 10%. ii. Crop development stage: The end of initial stage till the soil cover by the crop is about 7080%. iii. Mid-season stage: From the end of the crop development stage to the start of maturing, for most crops this shall be beyond flowering stage. iv. Late-season stage: From the end of midseason stage to the full maturity or harvesting.

Kc for maize
initial development Mid season Lateseason

0.4

0.7

1.2

0.6

Water requirement of crops in drip and conventional system

Crops Coconut Grapes Mango Guava Sapota Pomegranate Banana Lemon Papaya Vegetables and Flowers Tapioca Cotton (hybrid)

Water requirement liter/ day / plant. Drip 75-100 25-35 30-40 22-30 20-30 20-40 8-12 10-20 5-6 1-2 1.5-2 1.5-2.5 Conventional 200-300 90-100 90-100 70-100 70-100 60-100 30-40 20-65 16-26 4-6 3-4 3-5

Irrigation scheduling


1 irrigation water quantity by irrigate RAW= p( v fc - v wp) x zr

 Where: p is the allowed depletion



2-irrigation intervals = RAW/ ETc

* Calculate Crop water requirements for maize crop which cultivated in Sand soil ( FC= 12% ,WP= 4% ) and Clay soil ( FC= 42 % , WP = 22%) , and the effective roots of maize are 20,40,60,80 cm, ETo from May to August are 6.4,7.3, 6.8 and 6.1 mm/day Crop coefficient are 0.4, 0.8, 1.2,and 0.6 ,respectively calculate the depth of applied water irrigation for the types of soil and the irrigation interval of each month .allowed depletion is 50%

Month May June July August

F.C 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.42

w.p

Zr 200 400 600 800

RAW mm 20 40 60 80

0.22 0.5 0.22 0.5 0.22 0.5 0.22 0.5

Month

ETo mm/day

Kc

ETc mm/day

RAW mm

Irrigation interval (day) 10 8 6 20

May June July August

5.0 6.0 8.0 8.0

0.40 0.80 1.25 0.50

2.0 4.8 10.0 4.0

20 40 60 80