IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p10133-d1179890.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling Soil Hydraulic Properties Using Dynamic Variability of Soil Pore Size Distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Saurabh Kumar

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India)

  • Richa Ojha

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India)

Abstract

The knowledge of temporal variability of soil hydraulic properties (SHPs) in agricultural fields can help in reliable assessment of crop water requirement, thus improving irrigation water usage efficiency. The Fokker–Planck equation (FPE) and its modified forms are popularly used to describe temporal variation in SHPs. These models consider statistical description of soil pore size distribution (PSD) as a probability density function to estimate SHP evolution with time. In this study, we compare four different models to describe the temporal evolution of PSD and SHPs for multiple datasets across the world with different soil types, tillage conditions and crop cover. Further, field experiments were carried out at an experimental agricultural field at IIT Kanpur for rice crops, and the performance of these models was also evaluated for Indian conditions. It is observed that existing models have low accuracy for small pore radii values, and the prediction ability of these models is more affected by soil type rather than tillage conditions. More observations can improve the performance of FPE-based numerical and analytical models. The POWER Model is the least accurate because of its inherent power law assumption of PSD, which results in incorrect values for low pore radii. The FPE analytical model can be reliably used for predicting PSD and SHP evolution at most of the field sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Saurabh Kumar & Richa Ojha, 2023. "Modeling Soil Hydraulic Properties Using Dynamic Variability of Soil Pore Size Distribution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-26, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10133-:d:1179890
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10133/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10133/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schwen, Andreas & Bodner, Gernot & Loiskandl, Willibald, 2011. "Time-variable soil hydraulic properties in near-surface soil water simulations for different tillage methods," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 42-50.
    2. Xu, D. & Mermoud, A., 2003. "Modeling the soil water balance based on time-dependent hydraulic conductivity under different tillage practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 139-151, December.
    3. Feki, Mouna & Ravazzani, Giovanni & Ceppi, Alessandro & Mancini, Marco, 2018. "Influence of soil hydraulic variability on soil moisture simulations and irrigation scheduling in a maize field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 183-194.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Ziqi & Li, Kaiping & Xiong, Kangning & Li, Yuan & Wang, Jin & Sun, Jian & Cai, Lulu, 2021. "Effects of Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting on soil hydraulic properties and soil moisture in a karst area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    2. Liebhard, Gunther & Klik, Andreas & Neugschwandtner, Reinhard W. & Nolz, Reinhard, 2022. "Effects of tillage systems on soil water distribution, crop development, and evaporation and transpiration rates of soybean," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    3. Zhao, Nana & Liu, Yu & Cai, Jiabing & Paredes, Paula & Rosa, Ricardo D. & Pereira, Luis S., 2013. "Dual crop coefficient modelling applied to the winter wheat–summer maize crop sequence in North China Plain: Basal crop coefficients and soil evaporation component," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 93-105.
    4. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Jia, Qianmin & Ahmad, Irshad & Ma, Xiangcheng & Yan, Zhang & Cai, Tie & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "Interactive effects of planting models with limited irrigation on soil water, temperature, respiration and winter wheat production under simulated rainfall conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 198-211.
    5. Hadria, R. & Duchemin, B. & Baup, F. & Le Toan, T. & Bouvet, A. & Dedieu, G. & Le Page, M., 2009. "Combined use of optical and radar satellite data for the detection of tillage and irrigation operations: Case study in Central Morocco," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1120-1127, July.
    6. Hu, Kelin & White, Robert & Chen, Deli & Li, Baoguo & Li, Weidong, 2007. "Stochastic simulation of water drainage at the field scale and its application to irrigation management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(1-2), pages 123-130, April.
    7. Feki, Mouna & Ravazzani, Giovanni & Ceppi, Alessandro & Mancini, Marco, 2018. "Influence of soil hydraulic variability on soil moisture simulations and irrigation scheduling in a maize field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 183-194.
    8. Schwen, Andreas & Bodner, Gernot & Loiskandl, Willibald, 2011. "Time-variable soil hydraulic properties in near-surface soil water simulations for different tillage methods," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 42-50.
    9. Zhu, Pingzong & Zhang, Guanghui & Wang, Hongxiao & Zhang, Baojun & Liu, Yingna, 2021. "Soil moisture variations in response to precipitation properties and plant communities on steep gully slope on the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    10. Liu, Y. & Pereira, L.S. & Fernando, R.M., 2006. "Fluxes through the bottom boundary of the root zone in silty soils: Parametric approaches to estimate groundwater contribution and percolation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 84(1-2), pages 27-40, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10133-:d:1179890. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.