Showing 14 results for Soil Water
N. Sakenian Dehkordi, B. Ghobadian, S. Minaei,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (7-2001)
Abstract
A suitable instrument capable of inserting mulch into soil is needed to improve soil water holding capacity. The goal of this research is to design and manufacture an instrument with a blade and mechanism that can insert rice mulch into the soil. All the parameters in sub-soiling operation were taken into account, and the technique presented can be recommended as a special method of injecting rice husk. The instrument designed was easy to use on a tractor. Sub-soiling operation and husk injection were carried out satisfactorily using various amounts of husk and at different soil depths. This method was added to the conservation chart presented by Morgan as an integrated technique.
A. Majnooni-Heris, Sh. Zand - Parsa, A. R. Sepaskhah, A. A. Kamgar-Haghighi,
Volume 11, Issue 41 (10-2007)
Abstract
Optimal crop water requirement is needed for precise irrigation scheduling. Prediction of crop water requirements is a basic factor to achieve this goal. In this study, maize potential evapotranspiration (ETp) was prediced by maize simulation model (MSM). Then, it was evaluated and validated using experimental field data obtained in Agricultural Research Station of Shiraz University (Bajghah, Fars province) during 2003 and 2004. Comparison of measured volumetric soil water content with predicted values by MSM model in 2003 and 2004 indicated that this subroutine (prediction of maize evapotranspiration) did not need modification. Also, daily potential evapotranspiration of maize was estimated by using Penman-Monteith equation considering single and dual crop coefficients. Comparison between the results of predicted ETp by MSM model, calculated ETp by Penman-Monteith, and measured irrigation water and soil water content indicated that the prediction of ETp by MSM model was satisfactory. Model prediction of seasonal ETp, potential transpiration (Tp) and soil evaporation (E) were 831, 536 and 329 mm, respectively, in 2003, and 832, 518 and 314 mm, respectively, in 2004. The values of ETp, Tp and E calculated by Penman-Monteith method using dual crop coefficients were 693, 489 and 205 mm, respectively, in 2003, and 700, 487 and 213, respectively in 2004. Maximum rate of predicted potential ETp, Tp and E were 11.1, 8.2 and 5.1 mm d-1, respectively in 2003 and 13.0, 9.0 and 4.0 mm d-1, respectively in 2004. The values of calculated seasonal ETp by Penman-Monteith method using single crop coefficient were 615 and 632 mm in 2003, and 2004, respectively. Comparison between the results of predicted ETp by MSM model, calculated ETp by Penman-Monteith equation with single and dual crop coefficients (FAO-56) and measured values of irrigation water and soil water contents of root depth indicated that FAO-56 methods underestimated the ETp.
S. A. Kazemeini, H. Ghadiri, N. Karimian, A. A. Kamgar Haghighi, M. Kheradnam,
Volume 12, Issue 45 (10-2008)
Abstract
In order to evaluate the interaction effects of nitrogen and organic matter on growth and yield of dryland wheat, an experiment was conducted at the research station of the College of Agriculture, Shiraz University at Bajgah in 2005 and 2006. The experimental design was split plot in which three levels of nitrogen (0, 40, and 80 kg N ha -1) were main factors and additive organic matters including liquorice root residue at 15 and 30 Mg ha -1, municipal waste compost at 10 and 20 Mg ha -1, and wheat residues at 750 and 1500 kg ha -1 (all rates equivalent to 50 and 100%) were sub factors. A check treatment (no additive materials) was also included in the experiment. Results indicated that with increasing nitrogen level from zero to 40 and 40 to 80 kg ha-1, wheat yield increased significantly. Among yield components, number of seeds per spike increased significantly with zero to 40 and 40 to 80 kg nitrogen ha-1, but number of spikes m-2 increased significantly only when nitrogen level was increased from zero to 80 kg ha-1. Compared to check (no additive materials), maximum wheat grain yield (32%) was obtained from 100% compost application. Results of nitrogen and organic matters interaction effects indicated that 100% compost application and increasing nitrogen level from 40 to 80 kg ha -1 had no significant effect on dryland wheat yield. This showed the positive impact of compost application on the reduction of nitrogen fertilizer. Thus, it appears that 50% of the required nitrogen fertilizer could be replaced by compost. Applying organic matter increased soil water in both years, however, among organic matters, compost had a more pronounced effect on increasing soil water.
M Mahbod, Alireza Sepaskhah, Marzih Monfared,
Volume 13, Issue 49 (10-2009)
Abstract
Optimum management of water use in agriculture results in higher cultivated areas or enhances the share of water for municipal and industrial uses leading to economic development of a country. One of the effective methods in optimum water management is irrigation scheduling by using models which simulate water content in soils. In this study, a previously prepared model for irrigation water scheduling was modified to calculate daily effective rain, soil water content and deficiency. The model was applied for winter wheat field in Bajgah area using 13 years of local meteorological data. Furthermore, the effect of water storage in the soil profile on the amount and frequency of irrigation was examined. This model was written in Visual Basic.Net programming software. The model was run under two assumptions: 1) the effective rain compensates water deficiency of soil down to daily root depth and the excess water is assumed as deep percolation (case I) 2) the effective rain compensates water deficiency of soil down to maximum root depth and the excess water is assumed as deep percolation (case II). The results show that the amount and the frequency of irrigation in case 2 is less than case 1. Average amount and number of irrigation events decreased from 706.8 (mm) and 8 in case I to 569.2 and 6.4 in case II. The average relative percentage of effective rain increased from 45.2 % in case I to 76.9% in case II. The effective rain is 108.9 mm and the amount and number of irrigation events is 9 and 757.7 mm, respectively in case I (at probability level of 80%). The effective rain is 236.7 mm and the amount and number of irrigation events is 636.9 mm and 7.2, respectively in case II (at probability level of 50%). The effective rain is 165.6 mm and the amount and number of irrigation events is 712.6 mm 8, respectively in case I. The effective rain is 292.1 mm and the amount and number of irrigation events is 545.1 and 6, respectively in case II.
H. R. Fooladmand, S. Hadipour,
Volume 15, Issue 58 (3-2012)
Abstract
Soil water characteristic curve shows the relationship between soil water content and matric suction, which has an important role in water movement in the soil. The measurement of this curve is expensive and time-consuming in laboratory therefore, many methods have been proposed for its estimation including pedotransfer functions. By using the pedotransfer functions, soil water characteristic curve can be estimated based on other easily measured soil physicochemical properties. Parametric pedotransfer functions have been offered for parameters of the existing soil water characteristic curve models. In this study, 12 internal and external parametric pedotransfer functions of Brooks and Corey, Campbell and van Genuchten models were used and evaluated for 30 top soil samples in Fars province. To this end, the soil water characteristic curve and other necessary soil properties were measured, and then all soils according to the texture were divided into three groups of fine, medium and course textures. The results showed that the parametric pedotransfer functions of van Genuchten model were better than the other models, beacause of the better fit of this model to the measured data. Also, the results demonstrated that the parametric pedotransfer functions of Wosten et al. were the most appropriate method for estimating the soil water characteristic curve for the selected soils in Fars province, and that internal pedotransfer functions were not appropriate
T. Honar, A. Sabet-Sarvestani, A. Sepaskhah, A. A. Kamgar-Haghighi1, Sh. Shams,
Volume 16, Issue 59 (4-2012)
Abstract
In recent years, simulatiom modelling of yield has been the focus of attention for many researchers. Because, while reducing adminestrative costs, it can easily provide simulation models of different situations. In this study, while a subroutine on simulation of canola was added to CRPSM model, effect of different water treatments on canola was also investigated. In this research, canola (Talaye) under 5 irrigation treatments (full irrigation treatment during the growing period, water stress treatment at the spring re-growth stage, the flowering stage and pod formation, the grain formation stage and dry land treatment) was sown in complete randomized block designs at the college of Agriculture, Shiraz University during 2007-2008, and then the model was calibrated based on available information (soil-location -plant-water). Review of statistical indicators between simulated and measured yield show high accuracy in the estimation of crop yield (R2=0.98) and soil water content. The result of model validation with independent data series also showed that the result of soil water content is desirable except in dry treatment, and the corrolation coeficient between simulated and measured crop yield (R2=0.98) was acceptable.
J. Asghari Meidani, E. Karimi, S. B. Mousavi,
Volume 16, Issue 60 (7-2012)
Abstract
This study was conducted to study and compare the effects of different tillage systems on soil physical properties and wheat yield in dryland conditions. The experiment was carried out in Maragheh Dryland Research Station with 5 treatments and 4 replications based on RCBD for 3 years (2001-2003). The results showed that difference between the treatments in terms of wheat yield was significant, and stubble chopping and chisel plow tillage in fall + sweep in spring + seed drill planting had the maximum yield (i.e. 1452 kg/ha), lower value for yield (1.077kg/ha) blonged to T1 treatment. Also the results showed that spike/plant and spike length were the main characters in yield increase. For the soil bulk density and water content, the difference between treatments was significant and in planting and flowering stages stubble chopping and chisel plow in fall + sweep in spring + planting by seed drill had the highest soil water content and the lowest bulk density
M. Norouzi, H. Ramezanpour,
Volume 16, Issue 61 (10-2012)
Abstract
Flooding and fire are important phevent which could impact the forests of north of Iran periodically. These phenomena could have undesirable effects on properties and quality of soil. This study was conducted in order to investigative the effects of flooding and fire on some soil properties in Lakan forest, Guilan province. Soil sampling was carried out on three replicates from three depths 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 cm in flooding, burned and intact regions. Results of this study indicated that clay, silt, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Na and K values (in all of depths), organic carbon (OC) and N values (in second and third depths) significantly increased and sand content (in all depths) significantly decreased in flooding soils in comparison with intact soils. In burned soils, pH values (in first and second depths), EC, K and P values (in first depth) significantly increased and clay, OC and N values (in first depth) significantly decreased in comparison with intact soils. Soil water retention capacity showed that the flooding and burned soils had maximum and minimum levels soil moisture that can be related to clay and OC changes. Results of WDPT test showed the water repellency in the first depth in burned soils. Generally, flooding and fire phenomena significantly affected physical and chemical properties.
S. Besharat, V. Rezaverdinejad, H. Ahmadi, H. Abghari,
Volume 17, Issue 65 (12-2013)
Abstract
Different root water uptake models have recently been used. In this article, we use evapotranspiration data and soil water content data obtained from lysimeter measurements and root distribution in soil data obtained from olive tree to evaluate the accuracy of root water uptake models in predicting the soil water content profiles. Depth of lysimeter was 120 cm which was filled with clay-loam. Lysimeter recorded values of input and output of water and accurate value of evapotranspiration was also calculated. Soil water content distribution was measured using a TDR probe in lysimeter during the experiment. Feddes model with the root length density was used to account for the role of root distribution in soil. The flow equations were solved numerically with the measured evapotranspiration data as input, and the predicted soil water content profiles were compared with the measured profiles to evaluate the validity of the root water uptake models. The comparison showed that the average of relative error index for Feddes model was 10 %. Based on the results, about 90% of root uptake in olive tree happened at the depth of 40 centimeter
Sh. Ghorbani Dashtaki, N. Karimian, F. Raeisi,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (6-2017)
Abstract
The use of organic matter such as urban sewage sludge may help sustainable soil fertility via improving the physical, chemical and biological soil characteristics. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of urban sewage sludge on chemical properties, soil basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon in a calcareous soil with silty clay loam texture. Therefore, three levels of water repellency (zero, weak and strong) were artificially created in a silty clay loam soil by adding urban sewage sludge (S0=0:100; S50=50:50 and S80=80:20 sludge weight: soil ratio). Water repellency was determined by water drop penetration time (WDPT) method. Also some chemical properties such as soil acidity (pH) and Electrical Conductivity (EC), Soil Organic Carbon (OC), soluble sodium (Na+) and soluble potassium (K+) were measured. The samples were incubated at 23-25 ºC for 30 days and their moisture was maintained at 70-80 % under field capacity and soil basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon of incubation period were evaluated. The results showed that the effect of urban sewage sludge on chemical properties was significant (P ≤0.0001). The application of urban sewage sludge led to significant increase in basal respiration (16 and 27 times) and microbial biomass carbon (15.2 and 26.5 times) in the water repellency soils (S50 and S80) compared to control soil. The observed positive effect of sewage sludge might be due to a high content of organic carbon and nutrients in urban sewage sludge and decrease in the labile organic matter and nutrients during incubation period.
Sh. Zand-Parsa, S. Parvizi, A. R. Sepaskhah, A. A. Kamgar Haghighi,
Volume 22, Issue 1 (6-2018)
Abstract
In this study, the values of moisture and soil temperature were estimated at different depths and times under unsteady conditions by solving the Richards’ equation in an explicit finite difference method provided in Visual Studio C#. For the estimation of soil hydraulic parameters, including av and nv (coefficients of van Genuchten’s equation) and Ks (saturated hydraulic conductivity), soil moisture and temperature at different depths were measured by TDR probes and the stability apparatus, respectively. The objective function [equal to Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)] was minimized by the optimization of a parameter separately, using the Newton-Raphson method, while, the other parameters were considered as the constant values. Then, by replacing the optimized value of this parameter, the same was done for other parameters. The procedure of optimization was iterated until reaching minor changes to the objective function. The results showed that soil hydraulic parameters (coefficients of van Genuchten’s equation) could be optimized by using the SWCT (Soil Water Content and Temperature) model with measuring the soil water content at different depths and meteorological parameters including the minimum and maximum temperature,, air vapor pressure, rainfall and solar radiation. Finally, the measured values of soil moisture and temperature were compared to the depth of 70cm in spring, summer, and autumn of 2015. The values of the normalized RMSE of soil water content were 0.090, 0.096 and 0.056 at the soil depths of 5, 35 and 70 cm, respectively, while the values of the normalized RSME of soil temperatures were 2.000, 1.175 and 1.5 oC at these depths, respectively. In this research, the values of soil hydraulic parameters were compared with other previous models in a wider range of soil moisture varying from saturation to air dry condition, as more preferred in soil researches.
A. Javidi, A. Shabani, M. J. Amiri,
Volume 23, Issue 1 (6-2019)
Abstract
Soil water retention curve (SWRC) reflects different states of soil moisture and describes quantitative characteristics of the unsaturated parts of the soil. Direct measurement of SWRC is time-consuming, difficult and costly. Therefore, many indirect attempts have been made to estimate SWRC from other soil properties. Using pedotransfer functions is one of the indirect methods for estimating SWRC. The aim of this research was to assess the effect of using soil particles percentage in comparison with the geometric characteristics of soil particles on the accuracy of the pedotransfer equations of SWRC and the critical point of it. Accordingly, 54 soil samples of Isfahan province from seven texture classes were used. The most suitable functions for estimating SWRC, parameters of van Genuchten and Brooks-Corey equations, and the critical point of SWRC were selected based on statistical indices. The results indicated that the pedotransfer equations fitted the SWRC data well and the outputs from them were in a good agreement with the independent (validation) SWRC data. The results revealed that using soil particles percentage (sand and clay), bulk density and organic matter content in the point estimation of SWRC was better than applying geometric properties of the soil particle diameter. On the other hand, in the estimation of parametric and critical point of SWRC, using the geometric properties of soil particle diameters resulted in more satisfactory results, as compared with using the soil particles percentage. The NRMSE values indicated that the accuracy of the pedotransfer equations in the lower matric head was greater than that of the higher matric head.
T. Ahmady, M. Delbari, P. Afrasiab,
Volume 23, Issue 2 (9-2019)
Abstract
Nowadays, the Beerkan computational algorithms (BESTslope and BESTsteday) are known as the suitable indirect methods for estimating soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and sorptivity (S), as well as the scale parameter (hg) in van Genuchten soil water retention equation through the data collected in the Beerkan infiltration experiment and other required data. The purpose of this study was to compare these algorithms in estimating Ks and S, as well as the soil water content corresponding to the suctions of 33 kPa, 100 kPa, 200 kPa, 300 kPa and 1500 kPa. For this purpose, a total of 40 Beerkan infiltration experiments were carried out in Sistan dam research field. From all Beerkan experiments, 30 tests in loam and sandy loam textures having a relative error less than 5.5% (Er <5.5%) were selected for further analysis. The statistical criteria RMSE, ME and ωr2 were used to compare the measured and estimated water content values at each suction. The results showed that the BESTsteday algorithm, which had a more simple calculating process than the main algorithm (i.e. BESTslope), could provide the Ks and S values and the soil water content of the near field capacity with an acceptable accuracy. The model performance in estimating water content corresponding to the 1500 kpa suction head (i.e. θfc) was not acceptable for both algorithms. Moreover, the relative error of estimating soil water content (Er(h,θ)) was decreased gradually by an increase in clay %.
F. Gholamzadeh, H. Asgarzadeh, H. Khodaverdiloo, M.r. Mosaddeghi,
Volume 28, Issue 1 (5-2024)
Abstract
This study was conducted in the summer of 2021 to evaluate and validate the gravimetric soil water content measurements using a field oven. Ten soil types with a salinity of saturated paste (ECe) less than 4 dS m-1 and three saline soils were studied around Urmia Lake. Plots with dimensions of 1 m × 2 m were prepared for the selected soils to measure gravimetric soil water content and soil physical and chemical properties. The gravimetric water content (θm) values measured using the field oven (i.e., θmFO), were compared with those measured by a standard lab oven (i.e., θmLO). The soil water content values measured in the lab, regarded as a benchmark, were measured at 105 °C for 24 h. Temperatures of 120, 140, and 160 °C with three durations of 10, 15, and 20 min were used to dry the soil samples in the field oven. There was very good compatibility between the values of θmFO and θmLO when the soil samples were dried in the field oven for 15 or 20 min at all three temperatures. Significant linear relations were obtained between the θmFO and θmLO values as the slopes of linear relations were close to 1, the intercepts of relations were negligible and the distributions of measured data around the line 1 to 1 were unbiased. The minimal effects of soil organic matter content, clay content, salinity, and bulk density on water content measurements by the field oven indicate an important advantage of this method. These results confirm the high efficiency of the field oven for fast and reliable measurements of water content in different soils.
