What is it about?
The calculation of soil water available for crops can be performed with limited data accessible in farms. We proposed and confirmed that on the basis of the calculated water supply it is possible to estimate the depletion of available supply and the onset of water shortage during crop growth in farm praxis.
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Why is it important?
Under more frequent dry periods farmers need to adapt to reduce or avoid impacts of water stress on crops. It would demand new approaches, especially, to get better understanding of plant-soil water relationships. Detailed ("intimate") knowledge about every field (including spatial variability), its soil profile, water capacity, root depth or obstacles to root growth will enable to tailor complex agronomical measures to actual weather conditions.
Perspectives
Farmers have yet not much profited from mathematical models in every day activities. I believe, that simplified approaches, that are easy to verify in fields, may stimulate farmers to exploit existing and emerging scientific tools. Roots, difficult to assess, are important aspect of effective use of sources.
Jan Haberle
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Calculation of available water supply in crop root zone and the water balance of crops, Contributions to Geophysics and Geodesy, January 2015, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/congeo-2015-0025.
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