7-Soil Moisture Measurement Techniques.

Abstract

With the increasing interest in soil water, demand of its information for planning of the watershed, forecasting of yield in an improved way, irrigation scheduling, partitioning of rainfall into its runoff and infiltration components and also net radiation into latent and sensible components along with desertification etc., is becoming increasingly important in the areas of agriculture, hydrology and meteorology. The thickness of the soil layer enabling measurement of soil moisture, however, depends on the type and stage of the soil-plant cover; is only around 2m depth from the ground surface. The soil moisture retention in this depth is about 0.005% of the total water on the earth's surface. But, this amount is very important for the survival, sustenance and growth of the plants. The paper discusses various techniques for measuring soil moisture. In fact, an effort has been made to compile the information available on the techniques to make them more viable for their efficient use in a number of applications and thrust areas.