Soil Moisture Space-Time Analysis to Support Improved Crop Management

Abstract

The knowledge of the water content in the soil profile is essential for an efficient management of crop growth and development. This work aimed to use geostatistical techniques in a spatio-temporal study of soil moisture in an Oxisol in order to provide that information for improved crop management. Data were collected in a coffee crop area at São Roque de Minas, in the upper São Francisco River basin, MG state, Brazil. The soil moisture was measured with a multi-sensor capacitance (MCP) probe at 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, 60-and 100-cm depths between March and December, 2010. After adjusting the spherical semivariogram model using ordinary least squares, best model, the values were interpolated by kriging in order to have a continuous surface relating depth x time (CSDT) and the soil water availability to plant (SWAP). The results allowed additional insight on the dynamics of soil water and its availability to plant, and pointed to the effects of climate on the soil water content. These results also allowed identifying when and where there was greater water consumption by the plants, and the soil layers where water was available and potentially explored by the plant root system. Index terms:Water use efficiency, soil management, deep soil tillage, plant-available water, arabica coffee. RESUMOO conhecimento do conteúdo de água no perfil do solo é essencial para um manejo eficiente das culturas. Objetivou-se, neste trabalho,utilizar técnicas de geoestatística no estudo espaço-temporal da água em um Latossolo Vermelho. Os dados foram coletados em área de cafeicultura no município de São Roque de Minas, na região Alto São Francisco, MG. O conteúdo de água no solo foi obtidopor meio de uma sonda com multissensores de capacitância (MCP) nas profundidades de 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, 60 cm e 100 cm, entre março a dezembro de 2010. Após o ajuste do semivariograma no modelo esférico, utilizando mínimos quadrados ordinários, melhor modelo,interpolaram-se os valores por meio de krigagem, gerando uma superfície contínua, profundidade versus tempo (SCPT) e superfície de disponibilidade de água para a planta (SDAP). Os resultados permitiram um entendimento adicional da dinâmica da água armazenada no solo e sua disponibilidade para a planta, mostrando os efeitos do clima na variação do conteúdo de água e também, principalmente, dos períodos e camadas, onde houve maior consumo hídrico pela planta e regiões onde há água disponível no solo, potencialmente explorável pelo sistema radicular.Termos para indexação: Eficiência de uso da água, manejo do solo, preparo profundo do solo, disponibilidade de água para a planta, café arábica.

Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry applied to the prediction of chemical attributes in Inceptisols under different land uses

“…Soil fertility generally improves with depth, which is particularly important in these Inceptisols that present lower natural nutrient contents than those required by most crops. The improvement of soil conditions with depth for plants causes greater and easier development of the root system, directly and indirectly improving plant nutrition and water absorption by crops (Santos et al, 2014;Silva et al, 2015).…”

Orchard’s Soil Characterization and Nutrient Mobilization to Rocha Pear (Pyrus communis L.) Fruits

“…Humidity can depend on precipitation, hydric needs (for the adequate functioning of plants' metabolism), field drainage and irrigation methods [10]. For this agricultural parcel, and excluding the outlier value (Figure 1), there was a variation of 5.3% between samples, suggesting an adequate drainage system that prevented excessive water accumulation or demonstrated good surface water runoff, overall indicating the even irrigation of the trees [11].…”

Soil Management and Water-Use Efficiency in Brazilian Coffee Crops

“…In a Cerrado Latosol cultivated with coffee under a conservation system [10], soil moisture was monitored daily during 2010 by means of a capacitance multi-sensor probe to a depth of 1.0 m [53,54]. Throughout the evaluated period, the lowest moisture values were observed in the 0.50 to 0.75 m layer, indicating that the coffee tree extracted the largest amount of water at this depth (Figure 11), coinciding with significant presence of coffee roots [7] (Figure 4).…”