Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering

Soil-Plant-Water
Relationships
Irrigation and Drainage Course
Dr. Pinnara KET
Email:[email protected]

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Outline
Introduction
Soil Properties
Soil water Relationship
Degree of wetness
Available soil water content

2
Learning Objectives
➢What are the physical soil properties?
➢Why can soils store water?
➢What are the driving forces for water movement in soils?
➢What is available water storage capacity?

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Introduction
A proper understanding of
soil/water/plant interactions is
very important for the sound design
of any efficient irrigation system.

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Soil particle

Typical soil composition by volume

A soil matrix consists of solid, liquid

Volume composition & sectional view of soil and gaseous phases.

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 Soil texture

Soil texture (such as loam, sandy

loam or clay) refers to the proportion
of sand, silt and clay sized particles
that make up the mineral fraction of
the soil.

Particle Diameters

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 Example of coarse-grained soil

@RainMachine
Example of fine-grained soil 7
Soil texture

Classification by size of the primary soil particles that

define a textural group based on the U.S. Department of
Agriculture soil classification system. Under SAND, V.F.
refers to very fine and V.C. to very coarse.

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Sand

▪ The largest particles found in soil

▪ These have the largest airspaces
between individual particles through
which air can freely circulate and water
can easily drain

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Silt

▪ Has smaller particles than sand but

bigger than clay
▪ Air pockets and water channels are
more restricted than in sandy soils

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Clay

▪ Smallest particles found in soil

▪ Spaces between individual particles are
also small
▪ Air and water movement is restricted

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Specific Surface Area of Soils
Specific surface area of a soil sample is combined surface area of all
the particles in the sample.

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Soil Structure

Soil structure refers to the grouping

of particles of sand, silt and clay into
larger aggregates of various sizes and
shapes.

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Different types
of soil structure

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Soil aggregates from a dark clayey soil. Photo courtesy of Pepe
Álvarez (Technical University of Cartagena, Spain). 17
Prismatic soil aggregates from Posadas (Córdoba, SW Spain).
Photo courtesy of José M. Recio (University of Córdoba, Spain)
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Granular structure at the soil surface. Photo courtesy of
Juan Gil (University of Córdoba, Spain). 19
Sandy soil from Moguer (Huelva, SW Spain).
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Water movement through different soil structure
shapes. Developed by USDA-NRCS.

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Soil profile

▪ If a pit is dug in the soil, at least 1 m

deep, various layers, different in
colour and composition can be seen.
▪ These layers are called horizons.
▪ This succession of horizons is called
the profile of the soil

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O HORIZON
Loose and partly decayed organic matter
A HORIZON
Mineral matter + humus

E HORIZON
Light colored mineral particles

B HORIZON
Accumulation of clay transported from above

C HORIZON
Partially altered parent material

R HORIZON
Unweathered parent material

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 Soil Water Relations

Bulk density ring with intact soil core inside

Three phases of soil. 24

 Soil and Water Interactions

Soil acts like a reservoir

that holds water and
nutrients plants need to
grow.
Soil constituents in a known volume
of soil. All of the components total
100%. Since volumetric water content
(VWC) equals the volume of water
divided by the total soil volume, in
this soil, VWC would be 35%.
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 Soil moisture content

▪ The soil moisture content

indicates the amount of water present
in the soil.
▪ It is commonly expressed as the
amount of water (in mm of water
depth) present in a depth of one
metre of soil.

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Types of soil water

Main types of soil water

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 28
@Degacon Device
 29
@Degacon Device
 Early days of water potential
▪ Applied classical physics to water flow in
sol around turn of 20th century
▪ Realized that water content did Not drive
water flow in soils, “capillary conductivity”
did
▪ During 1902 to 1906 as a soil physicist at
the USDA Bureau of Soils (BOS), Edgar
Buckingham originated the concepts of Edgar Bauckingham
matric potential, soil-water retention
curves, specific water capacity, and
unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (K) as a
distinct property of a soil.
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 Soil–water potential
▪ The force that governs water movement in soil is called the soil–water
potential.
▪ It is a result of the interaction between the soil matrix and water, the
presence of solutes in the soil solution, action of external gas pressure,
and gravity.
▪ The sum of these forces forms the total potential, or soil–water
potential.

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Potential Energy

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Soil–water potential

Water will always flow from high potential to

low potential
(second law of themodynamics)

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Total Water Potential
Total water potential=sum of components

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 Ψ Matric (Capillary) Potential
M

(- value) adsorptive forces

▪The matric potential is attributed to capillary and

adsorptive forces acting between liquid, gaseous, and
solid phases.

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 Cohesive forces

Cohesive forces=intermolecular forces

between the molecules of a liquid

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 Adhesive forces

Adhesive forces= interactions

between the liquid and a solid
surface

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Adhesive and cohesive

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 Capillary action

Adhesive forces + cohesive

forces >gravity

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Capillary action

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Capillary action

Capillarity results from the surface tension of water and its contact angle
with the solid particles.
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Capillary
action in soil

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Ψ Matric (Capillary) Potential
M

(- value) adsorptive forces

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 45
@Degacon Device
 Ψg Gravitational Potential

Ψg Gravitational Potential
(+ value)
- determined by the
height of water above a
reference point
- water flows downward
under gravity

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@Degacon Device
 Ψg Gravitational Potential

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@Degacon Device
Pressure Potential Ψp
▪ Hydrostatic or Pneumatic
pressure
▪ Determined by amount of
pressure imposed on soil
water
▪ Positive Pressure
- Flooded Soils-Surface
water
- Soils with water tables –
Groundwater
@tec-science.com/

the increasing hydrostatic water pressure with increasing depth

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 49
@Degacon Device
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 Degree of wetness
▪ When a soil is saturated, the soil pores are filled
with water and nearly all of the air in the soil has been
displaced by water. The water held in the soil between
saturation and field capacity is gravitational water.
▪ Frequently, gravitational water will take a few days to drain
through the soil profile and, thus, some can be absorbed by
roots of plants.
▪ At saturation, the soil water tension is approximately 0.001
bar.
▪ One bar tension is equivalent to 1 atmosphere of pressure
(14.7 psi). Thus, it would be easy for a plant to extract water
from a saturated soil.
▪ Saturation only lasts a short time, so plants extract only a
small portion of the water above field capacity.

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 Degree of wetness

▪ Field Capacity is the maximum water-holding

ability of the soil after surface water has
drained away.
▪ Field capacity is defined to be at approximately
one-third atmosphere pressure or
approximately 0.3 bar.
▪ At this content, it is still easy for the plant to
extract water from the soil.

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 Degree of wetness

▪ Permanent Wilting Point is the point at which

the water remaining in the soil is not available for
uptake by plant roots.
▪ The wilting point occurs when the potential of the
plant root is balanced by the soil water potential;
▪ thus, plants are unable to absorb water beyond
this tension (approximately 15 bars).

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 Degree of wetness
Soil water is classified into three
categories:
1) excess soil water or
gravitational water,
2) available soil water, and
3) unavailable soil water

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Pioneer® Volumes of water and air associated with soil pores in 100 grams
of a well-granulated silt loam soil 57
Capillary Water

▪ Capillary water is held between tension of about 0.33 bars (−33 kPa or
1/3 atmosphere, moisture content at field capacity) to 31 bars (−3100 kPa
or 31 atmosphere, hygroscopic coefficient).

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Capillary action
illustrated by the relative
height of wetting for four
soil textures
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Unit of Matric Potential

𝑁 𝑘𝑔 𝐽
1 𝑃𝑎 = 1 2 = 1 =1 3
𝑚 𝑚. 𝑠 2 𝑚
where N is the newton, m is the metre, kg is
the kilogram, s is the second, and J is the
joule.

pF = log hPa 60
How Plants Get Water From Soil
▪ As water moves from the soil
into the roots, through the
stem, into the leaves and
through the leaf stomata to
the air, it moves from a low
water tension to a high water
tension.
▪ Most of the water that
enters the plant roots does
not stay in the plant. Less
than 1 percent of the water
withdrawn by the plant
actually is used in
photosynthesis ( assimilated
by the plant).
▪ The rest of the water moves
to the leaf surfaces, where it
transpires (evaporates) to
the atmosphere.
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Soil water retention
▪ A soil water retention or soil water
characteristic curve illustrates the
tension relationship.
▪ As a reference, the soil water
tension in an oven-dried soil
sample is approximately 10,000
bars.

The relationship between soil water content and

soil water tension for a loam soil type 62
Water reservoir for the plants

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Available water content

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Available water content

▪ Available Water (AW) or available

water storage capacity
AW=FC-PWP
▪ Readily available water (RAW)
RAW=MAD x AW

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 Available water content

Credits: Mary L. Shedd

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