Application of EMI and FDR Sensors to Assess the Fraction of Transpirable Soil Water over an Olive Grove
1
Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Agro-Ambientali, Università di Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
2
Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 12 Ed. 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy
3
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics-Agriculture and Environment Research Center (CREA-AA), Via Celso Ulpiani 5, 70125 Bari, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2018, 10(2), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020168
Received: 27 November 2017 / Revised: 3 February 2018 / Accepted: 5 February 2018 / Published: 8 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Water Conservation: Dynamics and Impact)
Accurate soil water status measurements across spatial and temporal scales are still a challenging task, specifically at intermediate spatial (0.1–10 ha) and temporal (minutes to days) scales. Consequently, a gap in knowledge limits our understanding of the reliability of the spatial measurements and its practical applicability in agricultural water management. This paper compares the cumulative EM38 (Geonics Ltd., Mississauga, ON, Canada) response collected by placing the sensor above ground with the corresponding soil water content obtained by integrating the values measured with an FDR (frequency domain reflectometry) sensor. In two field areas, characterized by different soil clay content, two Diviner 2000 access tubes (1.2 m) were installed and used to quantify the dimensionless fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW). After the calibration, the work proposes the combined use of the FDR and electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors to measure and map FTSW. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.86) between FTSW and EM38 bulk electrical conductivity was found. As a result, field changes of FTSW are due to the variability of soil water content and soil texture. As with the data acquired in the field, more structured patterns occurred after a wetting event, indicating the presence of subsurface flow or root water uptake paths. After assessing the relationship between the soil and crop water status, the FTSW domain includes a critical value, estimated around 0.38, below which a strong reduction of relative transpiration can be recognized.
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Keywords:
olive grove; sap flow; relative transpiration; FDR sensor; EM38; fraction transpiration soil water
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MDPI and ACS Style
Rallo, G.; Provenzano, G.; Castellini, M.; Sirera, À.P. Application of EMI and FDR Sensors to Assess the Fraction of Transpirable Soil Water over an Olive Grove. Water 2018, 10, 168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020168
AMA Style
Rallo G, Provenzano G, Castellini M, Sirera ÀP. Application of EMI and FDR Sensors to Assess the Fraction of Transpirable Soil Water over an Olive Grove. Water. 2018; 10(2):168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020168
Chicago/Turabian StyleRallo, Giovanni; Provenzano, Giuseppe; Castellini, Mirko; Sirera, Àngela P. 2018. "Application of EMI and FDR Sensors to Assess the Fraction of Transpirable Soil Water over an Olive Grove" Water 10, no. 2: 168. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020168
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