What are the best methods for soil moisture measurement?
Field as well as Lab.
Dear Mr. Vijay,
I misread your question, sorry! I thought you wanted to know the best method to conserve soil moisture.
However, the methods suggested by other scientists (N. Kalra and N. Hussain) are fine but at first you need those instruments. TDR correlates the frequency-dependant electric and dielectric properties of soil, whereas, OTDR is of interest to e-agriculture due its ability to sense changes remotely at sensitised points along an optical fibre by interrogation from a single end.Both these are qutie dependable instruments for field assessment. But if you want create a spatial map I would suggest you to use OTDR.
In lab condition, you can easily mesure the soil moisture by using keen-boxes. This is an easy and cheap method.
On field, mulching with crop residues is a good option. But without knowing your research objective it would not be wise to suggest anything for lab experiments.
Dear Dr Vijay, there are several methods for soil moisture content determination viz, gravimetric method, through gypsem block, use of tensiometers and moisture retention curve, neutromn moisturemeter, but the most accurate one is gravimetric estimate as this is the direct whereas others are indirect method of moisture estimation,,but tedious and labour intensive. regards
Dr. Meena, I agree to Kalra. There are separate methods for soil moisture determination in field and lab. No doubt gravimetric method is the most accurate. You can install gypsum blocks, piezometers with software programs, everything automatized but you have to bear heavy initial cost.
Dear Sir, Naveen Kalra
Thanks once again for your (Drs. Bhattacharya, Hussain) I agree with all above suggested methods, if we use TDR or OTDR methods for field conditions, which one most useful,
Thanking you
Dear Mr. Vijay,
I misread your question, sorry! I thought you wanted to know the best method to conserve soil moisture.
However, the methods suggested by other scientists (N. Kalra and N. Hussain) are fine but at first you need those instruments. TDR correlates the frequency-dependant electric and dielectric properties of soil, whereas, OTDR is of interest to e-agriculture due its ability to sense changes remotely at sensitised points along an optical fibre by interrogation from a single end.Both these are qutie dependable instruments for field assessment. But if you want create a spatial map I would suggest you to use OTDR.
In lab condition, you can easily mesure the soil moisture by using keen-boxes. This is an easy and cheap method.
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