摘要
Determination of an appropriate location for monitoring soil water content (SWC) is a keyfactor in efficient use of water in precision agriculture, however, the main challenge is thedynamic movement of water and root development in the soil profile. The objective of thisstudy was investigating how SWC distribution in a loam soil profile at two growth stages ofmaize may impact the suitable location for SWC monitoring in a drip-tape irrigation system.A new concept, Average Moisture Representative Surface (AMRS) was proposed to determine the surface of the soil profile, which represent the average soil moisture of the wettedvolume. SWC samples were taken during two irrigation intervals (48~52 days after planting(DAP) and 68~73 DAP) and root growth pattern was studied through root length density (RLD)at 50 and 100 DAP. The results revealed that a non-uniform wetting pattern after irrigationlimits the appropriate locations for SWC monitoring to point measurements and with time,SWC depletion resulted in enlarging AMRS. At the end of growing season, an increase of rootgrowth around the drippers increased the variation of root water uptake in different soil layers, and thus optimal place for soil sensors was limited to the upper layers, where the maximum root water uptake occurred. Overall, it is recommended to install soil sensors, such astensiometers and TDRs at a horizontal distance of 5~20 cm from the crop and a depth of10~20 cm from the soil surface while drip-tape is aligned close to the maize row.
基金
Funding for this study was provided by Isfahan University of Technology and Iran National Science Foundation(INSF)(project No.97010962).
